Flower Shop Romance
by Yojimbra
Summary: Naruto gets a part time job at the Yamanaka flower shop, much to Ino's annoyance, however will working with her fellow blond open up new paths in life? Naruino, fluffy, awkward, crushes, and all the fun stuff of working in a flower shop!
1. Yellow Daffodil

The Yamanaka flower shop had four kinds of customers, the Ninja here for the rare poisons her father didn't let her anywhere near, the gardeners that knew exactly what they were here for, the husband here to pick up their weekly tribute for their wives. And then there was Ino's favorite customer, the lost boy looking for a flower to impress the girl he liked.

It was always so romantic seeing those boys go out of their way to impress the girl they liked. Ino sighed wistfully into the bouquet of yellow daffodils she had been preparing for a local businessman that was a few days late for his anniversary. "I wish Sasuke would bring me flowers someday, I bet he wouldn't forget our anniversary."

Not that they had an anniversary, he had gone so far as to turn her down every time she asked him out. Not that she was alone in that endeavor, he had turned down every girl that had confessed their feelings to him. Time and time again.

"Still there's no way that I'm going to lose," Ino snarled, she snipped furiously at the stem of one of the flowers until it was the perfect length. The Yellow Daffodil was supposed to represent new beginnings and future success. If only she could give Sakura the flower then maybe the could stop fighting all the time. "Ha, like she'd even accept it probably think I was coming onto her or something."

"Talking to yourself again dear?" Her mother strode gracefully out from the back office, looking as regal as ever. Tsubaki Yamanaka was a tall elegant woman that made it a point to always look like perfection.

"I'm talking to the flowers!" Ino smiled, twirling around to hand the final flower to Tsubaki.

With practiced grace, her mother placed the flower in the perfect spot to finish off the arrangement. She walked around the counter dragging her meticulous nails along the wood. "Yes, the Yamanaka secret ingredient, between you and your father these flowers may know every secret in Konoha."

"I finished the orders, can I go for the day?" Ino placed both hands on the counter holding herself up off the floor.

"Hmm," Her mother pursed her lips smiling in a way that told Ino all she needed to know. The answer was going to be no. "Your chores aren't done, and I need your help with something today."

"Oh," Ino deflated resting her upper body on the countertop, trying to take up as much space as possible on it. "So I only have to do absolutely, everything, forever. I mean I even cleaned up the paint from that jerk's prank and redid the flower beds he ruined, I should at least get half a day off!"

"Oh the hardships of a twelve-year-old girl," Her mother adjusted another bouquet, with a minor change the entire shop somehow changed. "Well, you won't have to suffer alone, we'll be taking on some part-time help today, and it will be your job to show them the ropes while I go shopping."

"Does dad know?"

"Yes, it was actually his idea in the first place, you always complain about being overworked during the spring," Tsubaki said.

"I meant about the shopping," Ino shot back, propping her head up.

The door chime echoed throughout the store.

"Hello!" Ino greeted, bouncing off the countertop and onto her feet, she put on her best customer service smile. "What can I… oh it's you." Her smile vanished, and she folded her arms across her chest.

It was Naruto Uzumaki, a troublemaker in her class and the only person in her class with a mouth bigger than hers - and the stupid dumb jerk face that decided to paint bomb their store over the weekend. He looked ready to cry or pout and like he didn't want to be here any more than she wanted him to be here. "The Old Man said I had to come here and help you guys out."

Her mother glided across the store floor to circle around Naruto, once, twice. "Ahh excellent timing Naruto, we were just talking about you."

Wait they were? They were just talking about a part-timer, and shopping, and… wait, wait, wait. "Are you telling me that loser is the extra help! He's the one that took my weekend away from me!"

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted. "It's not like I want to be here!"

"Now, now," Tsubaki stood behind Naruto and placed her hands on his shoulders. "I talked to the Hokage and Iruka-sensei after that incident and we all believed that understanding the hard work people put into their stores would do Naruto some good, so please, do your best to teach him Ino, I'm leaving it in your capable hands!"

Before either of them could say anything Tsubaki vanished out the door, moving incredibly fast for a woman in a dress and heels.

Ino glared at him, this was just great, now she was going to have to spend all day with Naruto! She had more than enough of him being an idiot in class. Now he was going to be messing up her store too? Just freak'n great. "Fine, come with me."

"The first stop on the Grand Tour of the Illustrious Yamanaka Flower Shop is the outdoor gardens!" Ino pushed past the bead curtain with her arms out wide, spinning as she did. Vines grew along guides to make an elegant forest canopy with wide square holes, the walls were covered with a variety of seeds, and gardening tools, some for sale others for the store and a variety of plants were grown on tiered shelves so that the yellow walls were all but hidden. The main attraction was the eight large flower beds all in various stages of growth, save for two in the middle that were barren and were stained with orange paint.

"This is where we grow what's in season, and where you'll be spending the rest of your day." Reaching into the supply closet Ino pulled out a watering pail and a spare apron with purple flowers on it. She tossed them both at Naruto, hitting him in the face with the apron. "You know how to water plants right?"

"Yea!" Naruto growled ripping the apron from his face. He put it on over his orange jacket without fastening it around the waist. "You fill this with water," he flailed the pail around. "And then pour water on the flowers."

"Pfft," Ino snorted, placing both hands on her hips. "You have no idea, how to water plants do you?"

"Do to!" Naruto growled stomping over to the spigot, he filled it up just enough to get something drenched. His face was turning redder by the second until he looked like a blond tomato. "Just you watch." He stomped over to the strawberries and proceeded to give them too much water, the plant would survive but it wasn't healthy for them. "See?"

"Oooh," Ino clapped as sarcastically as she could possibly manage. "Congratulations Naruto, you over watered the Strawberries."

Silence lingered between them as Naruto processed the information, his face maintaining the lovely tomato coloring. He looked at the pot, then at her, then back at the pot. "How do you know?"

"Cause I water those strawberries every day," Ino pointed at the pot. "You see there? You filled the pot up to the brim, strawberries need a lot of water, but that'll drown them if you did that every day, you also shouldn't aim at the leaves, strawberries like to have their roots watered, so just pour into the soil, as for how much." She shuffled over to the next strawberry plant, specifically at the little line just above the soil. "I put that line there to remind me how much water to put in each pot. Better than looking it up in the book."

"Oh." A look of understanding graced Naruto's face as he looked at one pot after another trying to find the little line. "What about this one? It doesn't have a line!"

"For those just get the ground wet," Ino smiled, maybe having someone to do all the dirty work wouldn't be such a bad idea, she could keep Naruto locked up in here while she handled the storefront. "And after you water all the pots, we'll talk about the plant beds."

 **AN: Hi so I wrote this before my house was burned down, but I lost a lot of the progress I made doing it (About 4k words) And I really like the idea so I managed to press forward and rewrite a bit of it. I hope you all enjoy it.**

 **Again, I have a P.A.T.R.E.O.N. (FFN needs to stop censoring sites, its annoying) under Yojimbra, its called Yojimbra's Fluff Fics. It's not mandetory to my writing. But i'd be grateful for the support!**


	2. White Lilacs

Ino hummed as she crafted a small wreath made of White Lilacs - a pure white flower that represents purity and youthful innocence - for a flower girl, just one of a dozen other arrangements that were part of their wedding catering bundle.

As romantic as weddings were, they were a lot of work; Every table needed a bouquet, every bridesmaid a corsage, a boutonniere for the groomsmen, and of course the bride's bouquet needed to be the absolutely most perfect thing ever. It would be so much easier if people could just have nice quite weddings with friends and family, but no sometimes half of Konoha was invited.

"Well it's not like mine and Sasuke's wedding would be small." Quite the contrary, hers and Sasuke's wedding would be the biggest and best wedding Konoha had ever seen. She would be wearing an absolutely killer dress that would leave every male in Konoha wishing that they were Sasuke. And she would be the envy of every single female in Konoha for snagging the best man in Konoha leaving them with the dregs like Shikamaru or Naruto, and for looking better than they ever could.

Sakura would be her maid of honor, only so that she could rub it into the little traitor's nose. Ami wouldn't be invited, the rest of her friends would be there, and Sasuke would probably have Shikamaru or Choji as his best man, and the Hokage would be the officiant, wait. By that time might even be the Hokage.

A gasp turned into a giggle at the thought. Her marrying the Hokage! She could be the great woman behind the great man. Rumors would spread far and wide about how she was the real power in Konoha. The best part is that she'd never have to work another day at her parent's shop! She'd probably be Konoha's spymaster or something awesome like that, or she could simply be the Hokage's wife.

Both were good. With Sasuke as her husband, she'd be happy doing anything. He was smart, cool, good-looking, an excellent ninja, there was nothing about him she didn't like. And if it wasn't for Sakura scaring him off he'd be her boyfriend right now.

"Hey, Ino!" The second most annoying person in her class and recent co-worker Naruto Uzumaki snapped his fingers in front of her face, his apron was still untied and hung off to the side, already his ugly orange jacket had dirt on it that could have been avoided if he put the thing on right.

Swatting him away like the fly he was, she carefully placed the delicate headpiece down, as well as her daydreams. Naruto was a coward, all she had to do was glare at him or threaten to hit him and he would hide in the corner. "What do you want?"

Naruto winced at her balled fist and took step towards the nearest exit. "I finished the water the pots."

Oh, that. Maybe, just maybe having Naruto around to do the dirty work wouldn't be such a bad thing. Keeping her scowl Ino walked towards the outdoor garden, "So you watered all the pots to the line?"

"Yea," Naruto folded his arms pouting like five-year-old. "I did it how you told me to."

"Good, now for the flower beds." Ino led him to the hose area where a contraption that her father seemed to rearrange every season. "This is my daddy's flow control system, it makes sure that all the plants in the flower beds get the water they need, each one has its own switch, pressure regulator, filter, and nutrient feeder. The water passes through these pipes which leads to the drip tape and sprinklers that water the plants."

She took a breath and looked up to see Naruto looking incredibly confused. With a deep sigh that caused her shoulders to slack, she stood back up and pointed towards the main valve. "All you have to do is turn it on."

"Oh! You could have just said that!" Without any hesitation Naruto reached down and turned the valve on full blast, the contraption hissed as the pressure regulators did there job and allowed the right amount of water to be sent through the hoses. "That was easy, can I go home now?"

"Pfft, if I don't get to go home you don't get to go home." She had a million better things to do than hanging out with Naruto all day at work. Once she became a ninja she was going to kiss this place goodbye! And hopefully Naruto as well.

Once she ended up on a team with Sasuke everything would be set right.

Naruto continued to pout.

"Alright, next we need to fill the flower beds that you ruined with dirt and plant some seeds." Ino led him to a large shed, where bags of fertilizer were stacked high on the walls, a variety of pots and seeds as well as the larger tools were stored.

"I ruined them? It was just paint," Naruto stopped pouting for a moment and almost looked legitimately sorry.

"Yea, but flowers are sensitive, if you cover them in paint they're going to die, either because the paints to heavy or because they can't get in any sunlight, that and paint is toxic, we had to throw away all the dirt to." She left out the part where it cost her the entire weekend to clean up the mess. "Now," She pointed towards the bags of fertilizer. "It takes two of those to fill a flower bed so bring four of them to the flower beds."

With that Ino spun on her heel and walked out of the shed.

"Hey wait, you aren't going to help me carry these?" Naruto whined after.

"What kind of man lets a woman do all the heavy lifting?"

XXXX

Ino was rude, bossy, annoying, loud, kind of scary, and she wasn't anywhere cute enough to make up for it. Worse still was that she was one of Sasuke's fangirls and Sakura's rival in love. Ino could have Sasuke for all he cared, but just being around Ino might make Sakura mad at him.

It didn't help that she was treating him like a slave. Sure the Hokage told him to help out their shop, but he said he was sorry! How was he supposed to know that paint killed flowers! It was the flowers fault for being so weak.

He could tell when she was thinking about Sasuke, it was the same stupid look the rest of the girls in his class got. They sighed, smiled and spaced out. She was doing it right now, while he evened out the dirt in the flower beds.

"Hey, Ino!" She got out of her daydream and glared at him. "The dirts even, do we start planting now?"

So far gardening was nothing but playing in the dirt and water. It sucked he felt like a baby playing in the sandbox. Only it wasn't sand and it was just dirt and not fun at all."

"Oh, not yet." Ino rose from her seat, looking relatively clean compared to him, He was going to have to laundry soon if this kept up. She walked over another table and flipped open a large binder of sorts. "First we have to decide what to plant by looking up what's in season, what will be in season and what compliments what."

It sounded like a lot of reading. "Can't we just plant all the same thing?"

"We could," Ino's mom walked in through the curtain smiling sweetly, a bag filled with food was slung around her shoulder. "But the point is to demonstrate what we have to offer so that customers will want to buy something."

"Mom, your home!" Ino smiled and jumped into her mother's arms, hugging her tightly even as she rummaged through the grocery bag.

"Yep, I see you two have been busy," Tsubaki petted Ino on the back of her head, "You got the Flower beds ready for tomorrow, I'll be sure to make a list of what I want in them for you tomorrow."

Great more work.

"In the meantime, we're closed so your both free to go!"

"Finally!" Naruto ripped off the apron and flung it to the ground. He was so glad to be out of this place. Even if he had to come back again tomorrow. He had better things to do, like… like… not working at a stupid garden shop!

"Oh Naruto, one moment." Tsubaki smiled at him, reaching around Ino to pull out a wallet from the bag. "Ino gets paid every two weeks, so until we get you on that time loop I'll be paying you every day."

She handed him money. More than enough money for ramen tonight, and tomorrow maybe even enough for the day after that! "Wait, I get paid for this?"

"Of course, it is a job after all."

Maybe working here wasn't going to be completely horrible!

AN: **Hey there! I updated this! yay! progress. Anyways, check out Another World Another you if you like this fic. It's a fem Sasuke x Naruto and a Fem Naruto x Sasuke. Best of both worlds really.**

 **Also, still have a P.A.T.R.E.O.N. Supporting me on there nets you with story idea polls, and a thank you list on my profile... which isn't much but its all I can really offer.**

 **Direct link is** p.a.t.r.e.o.n..com (slash) Yojimbra is the direct link because I'm not listed on the site for some reason.

 **Thanks for reading!**


	3. Sweet Alyssum

It was only Tuesday and Ino was ready to be done with the week. School and work were just so exhausting. The moment she stood behind the counter, dressed as the picture perfect Yamanaka flower shop employee Ino let out a primordial groan and flopped her head down onto the counter.

"What are you doing?" Naruto, who was at least half of the reason why her day was turning out to suck so much egg asked, he was struggling to tie the apron behind his back looking like the kind of employee that showed up just because of the paycheck and not like they enjoyed the work.

His hair was a mess, his shirt was half tucked in, his fingernails looked like he had been playing in the dirt all day. However, despite his unkempt appearance. Naruto was actually smiling.

Her foul mood was all his fault, Naruto had talked to her at school - like they were friends or something - which wasn't that big of a deal, she wasn't that shallow. But it was Sakura that made it a thousand times worse. Naruto had asked what they were doing after school.

And now Sakura was spreading rumors that they were a couple. Worse of all was that when she asked Sasuke if he knew she wasn't really seeing Naruto, he just grunted! Because of Sakura Sasuke had fallen into despair and given up on her! All the progress she had made in getting through to Sasuke was in jeopardy.

It didn't help that Naruto followed her after class like he was a lost puppy. Only not cute at all, and twice as stinky and stupid.

"I'm suffering," Ino moaned glaring at Naruto with her one eye. "And it's all your fault!"

"What did I do?" Naruto pouted crossing his arms in protest.

"Because of you," Ino got up and walked over to poke Naruto hard in the chest. "The entire class thinks that we're friends! Or worse dating! And Sasuke was so depressed that he didn't even speak for the whole class! And just when I thought I was getting through to him!"

Naruto snorted. "Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke that's all you girls talk about! What's so great about him? He's just an asshole."

"He's not an asshole! He's cool, handsome, strong, an excellent ninja, basically, he's everything you're not!" Ino took a step forward, growling as Naruto stood his ground.

"And how's that my fault! All I did was want to know what want to know what we were doing today!"

"Alright you two," Tsubaki strode in from the back room, as elegant and poised as a snow-covered mountain, while her face was a storm of rage. She grabbed both Ino and Naruto by the back of their shirts and held them away from each other. "There will be no fighting while you are in my shop do you understand?"

"Yes ma'am," Naruto deflated his arms going limp and looking actually regretful like he was an obedient puppy that had just been caught doing something wrong.

"But mom!" Ino protested as she continued to struggle against her mother's grip.

"No buts Ino, Now you watch the storefront and Naruto will help me with the flower bed, honestly you two, this place is a flower shop what would people think if they came in and saw you two fighting like that?" Tsubaki set them down sliding her hands to their shoulders. "This shop is supposed to make people think of a peaceful garden, so act like it."

Ino growled at Naruto for one last moment, before she huffed and walked towards the counter. "Whatever mom."

XXXX

Ino's mom was… weird, and honestly Naruto didn't know what to think about her. She was nice, and quiet but was really scary without being loud, and that made her a lot more scary than somebody like Iruka-sensei, who was just loud.

She might even be scarier than the Hokage!

"Alright Naruto, you did an excellent job making sure that most of the soil got into the flower beds." Her face was an unreadable mask, as she pointed towards the bit of filth that was probably left over from yesterday. She continued to point at it, one eyebrow slowly raising as she looked right at him.

"Oh!" Naruto picked up as much of the dirt as he could with his hand and dumped it back into the flower bed. "There!"

She let out a sigh, "I meant for you to get a broom, but we can work on your clean up skills after we get dirty."

What was the point? They were just going to get dirty again later; his pants still had some of the dirt on them from yesterday! A look from Ino's mom told him that he really shouldn't say that out loud. She was weirdly clean.

"So, the first thing we're going to do is set up the drip system," She gestured to a bunch of tubes and plastic bits that sat on the nearby table. "It's going to be fairly easy this time because most of what we're planting. First, we need to connect it to the spicket."

Great, she was going to just tell him what to do while she watched over him to make sure he didn't make any mistakes. "Okay, how do I do that?"

"I'll show you," Ino's mom grabbed a set of the plastic doohickies, and walked over to one of the two empty flower beds. With easy, she attached the doohickies to a tube that stuck out of the ground. "See, just like that, now hand me the drip tape, it looks like a flat black hose with blue lines on it."

"Okay," It was easy to find what she was asking for there were two sets of three rolls arranged neatly on the table. He handed it to her.

"Thank you, Naruto." She smiled at him. And thanked him for handing her something so simple? "Now, pay attention, We want to make sure that the blue lines face up so that the water comes out at the right place."

Soon enough, there was one line set up in the box and Naruto had somehow managed to pay attention throughout the whole ordeal. Ino's mom was amazing at this! "What next?"

She stood up, her hands despite touching the wet dirt just moments ago were clean and dry like the dirt was afraid of her. Naruto could sympathize with the dirt. "Now, you do it, just how I showed you."

"Okay." Naruto examined the pieces, trying to pick out the pieces Ino's mom had first grabbed. "These ones right?"

"Very good Naruto." This was starting to freak him out, why was she being so nice to him? And she was going to give him money after this? Something was wrong.

"You'll have to forgive my daughter," She stood over him, watching his every movement just waiting for him to make a mistake. "She can be a bit of a hot head sometimes, something that you know all about I take it?"

"I'm not a hothead, other people just get annoyed too easily." Naruto laid the drip hose thing down, wait, the blue stripes go on top! "It's not my fault."

"Are you sure about that?" Her feet clicked as she walked around the flower bed a soft smile on her face as she watched his progress. Then, she turned and grabbed another set of the doohickies and tape. She crouched down beside him and began to work on the final line. "You can be a bit brash Naruto, just look at your current situation."

Naruto just lets out a groan as he kept looking at her hands to make sure everything was going correctly on his end. "I don't mean to annoy people."

"And I believe you, Now then, let's start planting." Ino's mom produced a packet of seeds from out of nowhere. "These are Sweet Alyssum seeds, they're going to be the base of our flower bed, so we plant these around the edge and in the center. I was going to go with a different flower, but these flowers are said to prevent heated encounters, maybe if we plant enough of them it'll stop you and Ino from fighting?"

She showed him how to bury the seeds, in small clusters six inches apart, about a quarter inch down, and then they went onto larger plants that would grow alongside the flower and what grew alongside them until the entire flower bed looked like a brown sponge with lots of holes and markers for the seeds.

By the time they finished the second Flower box, it was closing time.

"Now Naruto, I have a bit of homework for you." Ino's mom held out his pay for the day, (It was more than yesterday!).

"Naruto never does his homework." Ino snorted from behind the counter, a smug look on her face.

"Ino," Her mother warned, with practice grace she handed Naruto a pot and a packet of seeds. "This is a dwarf sunflower I want you to grow it at your home, once it's fully grown I'll consider your punishment over, and you can stop working for us."

The pot was heavy with dirt and the packet of seeds crinkled in his fingers.

"Mrs. Yamanaka," Naruto began, but he had no idea what he was going to Say, or even do. He could do this though he could grow a sunflower! Then he'd be able to prank people again!

"Please, dear call me Tsubaki, Mrs. Yamanaka makes me feel old." Tsubaki smiled at him like the Old Man or the Ramen chef did.

Naruto swallowed and bit his lip before he found the words he was looking for.

"Thank you."

 **AN: This was a fun chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it as well. Up next is... idk Maybe a new project? I've kind of lost interest in Another You Another World. In the mean time Check out my fic Healing, a Mikoto x Kushina fic.**

 **Maybe I should finally do that NaruSaku Yuri fic I've been wanting to do. Ahh well. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Yellow Acacia

"Thanks for shopping with us, I hope our flowers bring you happiness!" Ino smiled as she handed a bouquet to a nervous boy who looked ready to run home at any second. It was incredibly cute, he was probably going to go ask out the girl of his dreams! Or perhaps was in trouble for forgetting an anniversary?

"You're welcome!" The young man stammered pushing up his glasses. "I mean that is. Thank you!" Then he was gone.

Leaving her and Naruto alone in the store. Her father had yet to return from his mission, and her mother had some business to take care of that would likely take up the whole day. It wasn't the first time that Ino would run the shop, and it wouldn't be the last time either. But it was the first time that she had an underling to do her bidding.

That is coworker to delegate tasks too.

"The plants don't need any extra water in the morning right?" Naruto came in from the outdoor garden with a smile on his face. His Yamanaka Apron still untied at the waist and dirt clung to his pants and some on his nose as well. As to why her mother allowed him to maintain that appearance confused her beyond belief.

"Honestly Naruto, can't you present yourself better?" Ino closed the ground between them in three long steps, even as Naruto took a step back and from her. With a hand on his shoulder, she spun Naruto so that his back was facing her. A quick knot later and Naruto finally had his apron tied. "There, and to answer your question they do not."

"Oh, hey thanks, Ino!" Naruto spun around like a dog chasing his tail trying to look at the knot. "So that's what those were for."

Did he really not gather that from her?

Ino just let out a long sigh and turned back to the storefront, today had slow day written all over it. A slow day in the flower shop with Naruto. There was only so many chores and tasks she could get him to do until she was just making stuff up for him. "So, Naruto, why do you like Sakura?"

"What? How do you know that I like her?" Oh, he was blushing now. She had never quite seen Naruto turned that shade of red. Normally he just blushed when he was mad at being called and proved that he was an idiot.

"Because you ask her out like every day, always offer to sit by her, you're more obvious than me and Sasuke." Still, at least Sakura had some boy that was willing to ask her out. The rest of the boys in her class were too concerned with other things to even bother with the idea of dating,

Or maybe they just knew better than to try and go after one of Sasuke's fangirls. A lesson Naruto clearly hadn't learned. It wasn't like she wanted to date any of the boys in her class anyways. Kiba was too smelly, and obsessed with dogs. Choji was too fat, Shikamaru was too lazy. And then there was Naruto who had no redeemable features whatsoever. No, she'd wait for Sasuke.

But Sakura could settle for Naruto.

"Well?" Ino prompted again, Naruto was trying his best to ignore her by poking at a rose flower.

"Well, what?"

This was how her mother felt, wasn't it? Ino sighed and leaned against the countertop. "Like, why do you like Sakura so much?"

"Oh," Naruto sighed, this bashful sighed was almost kind of cute. Like a hairless kitten is kind of cute or how an old couple holding hands is kind of cute. "Well, she's just really pretty, and smart, and I just kind of like her okay?"

She could respect that. But then again, this was actually kind of fun. "Okay, why do you think she's pretty?"

"I don't know? I guess it's her face, and she her green eyes and her pink hair especially how long it is. For some reason whenever I see her my face gets all hot and stuff." Naruto mumbled, he accidentally plucked the petal of an orchid.

"Oh, so you like long hair do you," Ino smiled flipping her ponytail with a dramatic flair. "What do you think about me? Am I cute too?"

Naruto's face scrunched up in revolt like he had just smelled something horrible. "No."

"Hmph, what do you know," Ino rested her elbow on the countertop and huffed. "But if you want to get Sakura to like you, just complement her forehead."

"Her forehead?"

"Yea, you know that giant billboard that she could use for advertisement just below the pink hair you like so much. She used to be teased about it when we were kids, so if you say you like it might make her like you. Or make her hate you but she already hates you, so you got nothing to lose!" The part of her that still wanted Sakura as a friend was torn, between giving away Sakura's secrets. And the hope that if Naruto managed to get Sakura to like him more than Sasuke - no matter how doubtful that was - then they could become friends again. Plus it would mean less competition for Sasuke.

In theory, there was nothing wrong with Naruto, he was just loud, but so was Sakura, he was stupid, and Sakura was smart so the opposites attract thing would work there. Plus Naruto actually liked-liked Sakura and she certainly wasn't getting anywhere with Sasuke.

"Just make sure you shower and wear clean clothes when you tell her about it. Oh and I'm sure she'd love a flower. She likes cherry blossoms."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you helping me get Sakura to like me?"

Because at the very least it would be fun to watch him crash and burn. "Boredom mostly, and if you by some miracle get Sakura to date you then that's less competition for me."

"Well, where should I take Sakura then?"

"You don't, at least not at first. Just tell her something mushy about her forehead, and give her the flowers then leave. It'll give her time to think. And believe me, Forehead will be thinking about it." Sakura would probably stay up late pulling her hair out and growling in frustration over such a simple gesture.

If this works she should get a job as a matchmaker.

"Huh?" Again with the confused puppy dog look, head tilt and all. "But how will I get her to date me?"

"The point is to get her to want to date you. Sakura's not afraid of asking boys out that she likes. Can you imagine it Naruto? Sakura asking you out? Blushing and stuttering and acting nervous because she likes you so much?" It probably wouldn't ever happen, but weirder things had happened. Like…. Well… actually, that might be on the top of the list of weird things to happen in Konoha.

Naruto adopted a happy dopey smile, a clear sign of a melted heart. "Sakura, asking me out? Sakura, me out?"

Damn, did Naruto sleep in a bed filled with Sakura love bugs? What on earth did that stupid forehead do to get her own fanboy? "You can do that after work, but first go wash the windows."

"Yes Ma'am." Naruto mocked saluted and ran outside to wash the windows without spray bottle or rag. He walked back in hanging his head in shame.

With a scrutinous glare, Ino observed Naruto as he cleaned the window. When he actually wanted to do something or was rewarded for something he didn't want to do he was a hard worker and actually not annoying. He hadn't even tried to pull a prank in class since he started working here. But that could just be him not having enough time to think of a prank. But it felt like there was something more to it. Like Naruto actually enjoyed working here. There were worse jobs for sure. But that didn't mean it was a job to happy about. Well her parents were happy with it. But it was their store.

No Naruto seemed both happy and calmer.

As Naruto began to was the glass right behind the display beds on the front of the store, a devilish idea popped into her head. Humming a soft tune to herself Ino walked over to the control for the outdoor sprinklers. And turned them on full blast. With Naruto standing under them.

The sun made the water shine as it misted down onto Naruto, causing his blond hair to sag, and his black shirt to cling to his body. For a few moments, Naruto actually looked like an attractive human. Like he was actually cute, not as cute as Sasuke would have, but cuter than any other boy in the class.

Once he was slightly damp Ino turned off the water and smiled at Naruto as he glared at her from the other side of the window.

Maybe her mother was right, and all Naruto needed was a bit of kindness to bloom. He certainly could be turned into a decent boyfriend. For Sakura not for her. Sasuke was the only man for Ino. and no amount of cute wet Naruto would ever change that.

XXXX

Ino hummed to herself as she began the closing procedures. All in all, today wasn't that bad, they were just busy enough to not be completely mind-numbingly bored, yet slow enough that they weren't going to get grey hair by the age of twenty.

"Hey Ino," Naruto mumbled, shifting on his feet ever so slightly, he had one hand behind his back, and a cherry blossom branch he was all set to give Sakura when he next saw her was in the other. "I just wanted to say thank you for the idea and that I'm actually sorry for what happened at the academy."

"Oh," Right that whole thing. "Don't worry about it Naruto I might have overreacted a bit." Her own mother had said as much.

"Well, anyways, I got you this." He pushed a small handful of Yellow Acacia into her face, nearly forcing her back a few feet. "I read that these represent a valued friendship or something like that and I'd like to be your friend if that's okay that is."

Ino stared at the flowers for a few moments. A boy - Yes, a male of the human species - had given her, flowers. It wasn't Sasuke giving her flowers. But it was still a boy. Beyond that, it wasn't just any flowers. Of all the flowers Naruto had given her they were Yellow Acacia, while not her favorite flower, they were at one of her favorites.

She had daydreamed Sasuke giving her these flowers hundreds of times, because of their other meaning. Sure the friendship thing was sweet and endearing, but the flower had a secondary meaning. Secret love.

Did Naruto know that? And that's why he gave them to her? No, that wasn't it. This was Naruto! He probably only read the friendship part, or the book he read didn't even have the secret love part listed.

"Wait, you read about flowers?" Ino asked, still taking the flowers from Naruto, she had touched them a hundred times, she had probably planted these ones. But they felt so different. They were heavier, warmer, somehow more than just flowers. She had always known that - actually - receiving flowers would be different and special.

She didn't know that Naruto of all people would be the first boy to give her some. Why could she hear her heartbeat? Why did her cheeks feel warm? Why Naruto?

"Yea," Naruto scratched the back of his like he always did. Except it looked different this time. "Your Mom gave me a book on flowers and their meanings. She said she wanted me to start helping customers soon."

If her mother gave him a book then it should have had the other meaning of Acacia in there. Naruto must not have read very much of it. That sounded about right. So it was just dumb luck. He liked Sakura after all.

"Well thank you, and sure, I guess we can be friends, and I guess it's okay if you talk to me at the academy." He smiled, and it could almost be considered charming? No this was Naruto she was talking about. He didn't have a charming bone in his body.

"Thanks, Ino."

"But you still have to pay for those."

 **AN: Stop asking for longer chapters, it's annoying. Anyways here's the longer chapter for this fic. Its like 30%longer than verage. But that's because that's how long it is. Anyways. Thanks for reading I'm off to work on... well honestly I don't know. Getting another Narusaku urge. Anyways, until next time!**


	5. Blue Salvia

"This is all your fault," Naruto grumbled as he came walking into the flower shop. He looked perfectly fine and healthy, no limp in his step, just a nice shiner on his left eye that was already beginning to puff up.

Ino propped her head on her hand, resting on the counter. It was hard to feel bad for Naruto when most of his wounds were self-inflicted in some form or another, in this case, it was his fault for going after dangerous game. "Oh, and care to explain how your black eye is my fault?"

He stomped past her, only offering her a half glare as he began to put on proper work attire. "Sakura punched me. In the face. Hard," he pointed towards the black eye.

"Really?" Ino gasped, trying to feign surprise. "I thought you got that from walking into a door."

"No," He was blushing and pouting. Naruto's pouts were something that Ino was coming to enjoy. Not because they were cute or anything, it was just because it meant that Naruto was in some form of misery. Just because they were friends didn't mean she couldn't delight in his suffering. "I told Sakura about her forehead and she punched me."

She honestly saw that one coming from a mile away. "And the flower? Did she take the flower?"

Naruto blinked, his pout turning into a simple frown as he twisted his face like a puppy dog. "Well yea, but she still punched me!"

"And you still like her?"

The blush was back. "Well yea, but I think I just made things worse by telling her about her forehead."

"Okay Naruto, I'm going to need you to tell me exactly what happened." For science, and gossip. Mostly gossip. "So from the top, what did you do?"

"Well, I found Sakura alone as she was walking home," Naruto scratched the side of his face, he walked to the storefront and grabbed the first flower he could find, a Blue Salvia, a flower that represented healing, wisdom and a long life. Naruto could use at least two of the three right about now. "She was annoyed when she saw me and said 'What do you want Naruto?"

That was expected from Sakura.

"Then I held out the flower to her and she took it from me and I said. 'you're forehead is so big and beautiful it makes me want to kiss it.'" Naruto held the flower out to Ino imitating his previous actions.

With the role of her eyes, Ino took the flower and tried to fight a smile. A second flower from a boy, a second flower for Naruto. There was no hidden meaning behind this one, it was all just an act. "And then what?"

Naruto flapped his arms. "Well she stood there for a second, looking at me and the flowers, then she shouted that I was an Idiot punched me in the face and ran away. And now she probably hates me!"

Wow, that actually worked better than expected. "Naruto, Naruto, Naruto." Ino tsked as she returned the flower to him. "She doesn't hate you now, Sakura is just... well she's not very good at handling her emotions, she gets too flustered and then expresses herself in weird ways."

A bit like Naruto actually.

"She was actually probably really happy that somebody said those things to her, but she was probably also really mad that it was you that said those things." If Naruto gave her a flower - on purpose and one that actually meant that he liked her - and said that she was the most beautiful girl in the world, she'd probably punch him too.

"So she hit me because she's happy?" Naruto frowned placing the flower back in more or less the same spot.

"She hit you because she doesn't like that you made her happy."

"Huh?" Again with the confused puppy look, at least this time he was clean so he actually looked cute. And with the black eye, it was like he had a spot on his face.

Ino sighed and pulled out a Magazine she had read weeks ago. "Here, this article describes the types of girls. Sakura's reaction and personality make me think that she's going to become a tsundere to you."

"What's a tsundere?"

"A tsundere is a girl or a boy too I guess, is a person that hates that they like you, and hates that they can't stop liking you. Or they hate they like that they like you or something. It's very weird. Basically, because Sakura already hated you for being annoying. And then you did this really sweet thing to her she's going to be hating that she now likes you." Ino pushed the magazine towards Naruto, "Really try reading the girl magazines sometimes, guys complain all the time that girls are too hard to figure out. But we write everything down."

He took the magazine. "So, Sakura likes me now?"

Ino shrugged and mimicked Naruto's flap. "Maybe, I'm not her so I really can't speak for her, but I think she's on the way to liking you."

"So what do I do now?" Naruto asked rolling the magazine up and placing it in his jacket. "Should I give her another flower?"

"You do nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

Naruto frowned. "Why? won't that make her not like me?"

"If you try to push her too hard you'll remind her of why she doesn't like you, so instead you should do nothing and let her figure things out if she still hates you try again some other time, but just give Sakura a little time okay?" Ino paused and tapped her chin. "It's a bit like Sasuke, he doesn't do anything special for us girls but we all like him because we decided to, not because he tried to make us like him."

There was more to it than that, like Sasuke is cool, cute, awesome, and mysterious. But that was beside the point.

"But, I don't want to be Sasuke." He was pouting again.

Ino smiled and gave Naruto a soft shove. "Don't worry Naruto, you'll never be Sasuke, even if you stay away from Sakura for a while."

Wait, wait, wait. Ino smiled, maybe this could be used on Sasuke. If she used her new friendship with Naruto to make Sasuke jealous by ignoring him. Oh, the possibilities were endless! "Instead why don't you hang out with me at school? I'll even eat lunch with you."

"Really? You will?" The joy in his voice was almost enough to make her feel bad. Almost, but not enough.

"Well yea, what else are friends for?" Ino smiled, "Now let's get to work, my dad comes home tonight and we should make sure the shop isn't a mess."

XXXX

Inoichi, yawned as he walked through the doors of his shop. He was ready for a good long stay at home far away from any missions that dealt with the Land of Snow for a good long while. Snow and winter just didn't sit that well with him, it made him lethargic.

He was looking forward to a nice relaxing evening with a home cooked meal from his wife with his lovely daughter and… son? Wait, he had a son? No, that couldn't be. If he didn't have a son, then who on earth was this short blonde punk with blue eyes watering his plants? And why did he have a black eye?

"Oh right," Inoichi blinked. His wife said something about hiring a troublemaker to help around the shop. "You're Naruto aren't you?"

The boy froze and stared up at him wide-eyed, like a deer ready to be spooked. "Yes, Mr. Ino's dad."

"It's just Inoichi," He patted the air trying to get the boy to be less uptight and formal. "Have you seen my."

"Daddy!" His lovely little daughter came whirling out from the back room and slammed into him full speed. It nearly knocked the air out of him. "Thank god you're home!"

"What's the rush?" Inoichi smiled ruffling his daughter's hair ever so slightly. Just enough to make her annoyed at him later.

Ino frowned and turned away from him, huffing just like her mother did. "You've been gone for so long! I thought you were never coming back."

"Oh, I know this game," He pulled out a small packet of seeds he had gathered. "These, come from the Land of snow, I don't know what they'll grow into, but why don't you add them to your collection."

It was a hobby Tsubaki had passed down onto Ino, collecting rare flowers from across the world, and trying to figure out how to grow them in Konoha. It was an odd hobby but one that eventually led to this wonderful store.

"Thanks, daddy!" Ino smiled at him as she twirled the seeds in her hand, "I can't wait to plant them in my room."

She spun towards the boy. "Come on Naruto, let's fill a pot and find a place for it in my room."

Inoichi felt his mouth drop as Ino grabbed the boy by his wrist and began to drag him away and towards her room. His daughter had befriended that trouble making blond and was taking him into her room? His precious baby girl was too young for this! She wasn't allowed to like boys! No matter how much she said she was in love with that Uchiha.

"Keep the door open Ino!"

 **AN: So this is part of my Nano challenge I guess, Because I suck at keeping to one story I'm going to be writing a whole bunch of stories at once. Anyways, Hope you all enjoy this little chapter of nothingness. Next chapter I'll see about having Inoichi and Naruto interact more. This one was just a bit of resolution from last chapter and a bit of set up.**


	6. Sunflowers

"You know," Naruto grumbled, as he shifted the half-dozen or so bags he was lugging around. "When you said you wanted to hang out on our day off this was not what I had in mind."

Ino spun around and smiled at him. It was her 'oh look at me I'm a perfect angle and I can't possibly be doing anything bad' smile. He hated that smile. "Well, what did you expect? I said we were going to go shopping!"

"So what you're saying is that the next time you ask me if I want to go shopping with you, then I should just stay home?" Seriously, how could she even afford all this! And why were these clothes so heavy! "And why do you need so many clothes?"

"What?" She gasped acting like his words hurt her. "You mean you're not enjoying spending time with me, Ino, your coworker, and friend? Why I'm offended."

"You're just using me to carry stuff."

"Guilty as charged, but hey I said we can get ramen after all this. So just hold your horses." Free ramen was always good, even if he had enough money to buy his own ramen. "As for why I need so many clothes, don't you think it's fun watching me try on so many cute outfits?"

"No," He really didn't see the point Ino looked fine in whatever she was wearing. She frowned, looking sad again, girls were so confusing! One second they were happy and then the next they were all sad and depressed and stuff. Or in Sakura's case really angry. "And don't you have enough clothes? I'm already carrying more than I own."

"Wait," Ino came to a dead stop. "Do you mean to tell me that you don't even own three outfits?"

"No?" Was that weird? He only needed like three shirts, some pants, and then his jacket. Still, to Ino it looked like he had committed some kind of crime against nature.

"I can't believe it." Ino's mouth fell open and she slapped her cheek in what could only be described as pure terror. "I should have noticed that you always wear the same three shirts to work all the time and that you never change jackets or pants."

She grabbed his arm and began to pull him towards a new store. "We're going to fix this right now Naruto, we're not stopping until you get at least one new outfit, a new look might even help you with Sakura!"

"But shopping is boring!" And expensive! He'd much just rather wait for his birthday when the Old Man would buy him new clothes. "Can't we just go get ramen now?"

She pulled on his arm again as they rounded a corner to a come face to face with a large, but rather generic looking store that had numerous outfits for shinobi on display. "No way! Come on this is the last stop! We should be able to find you something decent to wear!"

Naruto groaned as Ino dragged him into the shop. His feet hurt, and his arms were tired, it felt like Ino was going to shop until she dropped. Then he'd have to carry her too.

They found the section for teenagers and Ino went to work.

"Oh here, this would match your eyes," it was a blue shirt. "This one would go well with your skin and hair," an orange and yellow jacket, that was softer than his normal jacket, sleeveless too. "And these will tie the whole thing together," darker orange pants.

"Uhh, okay?" Naruto looked at the clothing she had piled on top of him. "It's all orange and blue though?"

"They're your favorite color right?" Ino gave him a soft smile that made the middle of his back tingle in the way that it did when he saw Sakura smile. She was actually super cute when she was smiling.

"Yea, they are!"

"Awesome, now, go change, I want to see how you look!" Ino shoved him in the vague direction of the changing rooms.

The pants were a bit too small, but the shirt and jacket both fit good, nice and roomy how he liked them, the jacket even had a hood, which meant no more struggling to find an umbrella that wasn't broken!

He examined himself in the mirror, it didn't look bad, and he still looked like himself. "Ino, I'm dressed."

"About time, now come out here." Man, she was bossy, it was like she couldn't go three minutes without telling him what to do.

He stepped out holding his arms out wide, she smiled again. "Well?"

"Hmmm." She placed her finger on her lip as she walked around him, her eyes flowing up and down as she examined him. It felt like he was taking a test and Ino was more than willing to fail him. "The look suits you, how does it fit?"

"The pants are a bit tight."

"That's easy to fix, go put your regular clothes on, I'll get you a larger size."

"Do I have to get these? They feel kind of expensive."

Ino snorted, a soft blush on her face that hadn't actually been there. "Don't worry about it Naruto, I'll cover you this time but you'll owe me."

"Owe you what?"

"Don't know yet, it won't cost you money though."

Why did it feel like he was going to regret this deal? Still, the outfit made Ino smile, and if it made Ino smile it might make Sakura smile. "Sure Okay."

"Great, now I'm going to go try on an outfit, wait for me at the girls changing room."

Naruto just hoped it wouldn't be like the last store where she spent thirty minutes trying on outfits, only for her to not buy anything. It was so boring!

Still, Naruto did as he was told, and waited on the little chairs near the woman's changing room holding the bags like a diligent watchdog. He was getting hungry. Really hungry. "Hey, Ino are you almost done in there?"

"Just about!" her voice was sing-song and oh so very happy, it sounded like a warm bowl of ramen smelled. Delightful and inviting. And a bit of happiness.

The curtain flew open and Ino presented herself like an unwrapped Christmas present. She was nearly naked as she stood there in a yellow polka dot bikini. Her stomach was exposed, her hips were on display, It was like he was peeping in the woman's bath using Sexy Jutsu again!

Only this time he wasn't getting in trouble for it!

"Well," Ino's smile drew his eyes to her face, a faint blush was slowly spreading on her cheeks. "What do you think?"

She stuck her tongue out to the side and winked.

Naruto could only just stare, his mind was empty. "Uhhhh."

"I'll take that as a good sign." Ino dropped the curtain returning to the dressing room.

XXXX

Ino poked at the bowl of ramen in front of her, It wasn't bad. But she could taste the calories. Every single bite of the salty soup was bound to end up on her hips, stomach, or thighs! If it went to her chest then she'd probably eat as much as Naruto.

He was on his second bowl and showed no sign of stopping. It was amazing really. "Honestly Naruto where do you put it all?"

"Put what?" Like the uncivilized idiot, he was Naruto responded with his mouth overflowing with noodles as he was mid-slurp. It was probably her fault she should have asked the question in between bites…. Or bowls it was the same thing really.

"All that ramen you eat! Like seriously it's like your stomach leads to another dimension, oh and I'm only paying for two bowls you got that?" Ino grumbled and took another bite of noodles into her mouth. The calories tasted like guilt. Delicious, delicious guilt.

Next time they were going some other place! Like that BBQ place Choji likes.

"Oh, I don't know I just eat it." Stupid Metabolism must be why Naruto's so hyper he burns up all his energy doing stupid stuff and saying stupid things. Like a true gentleman, he went right back to slurping.

"Sakura better watch out, looks like she's competing with ramen for your heart," Ino mumbled as she took another bite of the ramen. Why was this stuff so good? Seriously, it was growing on her with each bite.

"What'd you say?" Naruto finished his slurp and finally stopped eating.

Ino swallowed her bite, nearly choking on it. So that's why her mother said not to talk with her mouth full. How did Naruto do it? "Oh I asked if you were nervous about the Final exam coming up, you failed that last few right?"

"Oh," Naruto's shoulders slumped and he stirred his half-empty bowl of ramen. He looked pathetic. Then he perked right back up. "Don't worry about me Ino I'm sure I'll do great this time!"

"You still can't do the clone Jutsu can you?"

Silence, followed by the guiltiest sounding slurp she ever heard. "I'll get it down by next time I promise."

"You better, or else you'll be stuck working at our store forever!"

"That doesn't sound so bad, I kind of like working at the flower shop."

"You would," Ino snorted, taking in a bite of the garnish in her ramen. "But what about your dream of Becoming Hokage?"

Naruto sat up straight and with a chopstick in both hands he stood on the stool and proclaimed. "Then I'll become the Flower Hokage and then the whole village will acknowledge me and my awesome flowers!"

Ino sat in stunned silence. Then burst out in a full body laugh that almost sent her tumbling to the ground. "You Dork!"

Naruto plopped down and joined her. "I'll be the Hokage that smells like sunflowers! Believe it!"

Then it happened. The most embarrassing thing that her body could ever do. She oinked. Then again, and again. It was an absolutely horrible sound that made her laughter come to a dead stop.

Naruto's had settled down to a giggle as he smiled at her. "I didn't know you oinked when laughed."

"If you ever tell anybody I did that~"

"I thought I heard a pig around here." Ino spun around to see her former friend and longtime rival in Sasuke's love. Sakura Haruno. The worse possible person to hear her oink.

This was all Naruto's fault.

"What do you want Billboard brow?" Ino growled she was going to fight fire with fire if she had to.

"Oh, I was just walking by when I heard a pig in a ramen stall and." Sakura turned and looked at Naruto who had remained silent. Sakura stood there silent for a moment, whatever insult she had in that massive head of hers was dead on arrival. Sakura blushed, and then her mouth snapped shut, and then opened again. "Are you two on a date?"

"No," Ino stood. "And what if we were it's none of your business."

"Well it's not, but I've been looking for Naruto?" She was acting like that bashful six year old she first met that was unsure of everything. Holy crap is this because of Naruto's compliment and flowers?

"You are?" Ino and Naruto asked at the same time.

"I am?" Sakura asked, then she snapped out of it. And walked past Ino like she wasn't even there. "I mean yes, I am. I'm here for you Naruto."

"Oh, well what can I do for you Sakura?" Naruto stood and asked, his ramen bowl left half empty on the table.

Sakura closed her eyes, her hands fidgeting in front of her as she took a deep breath. "Naruto, I've decided to give you a chance, so if the offer is still good, I'd like to go on a date with you."

Ino couldn't so much as breath. It worked. It actually worked. Never in a million years would she ever think that Sakura would go out on a date with Naruto. This was a good thing right? Right?

Why was she hoping that Naruto would reject Sakura here and now, for him to hear him say no? Was it because it would be worth it to see Sakura's face if naruto of all people rejected her? Or was there another reason?

Please say no, please say no, please please please say no.

Naruto had a gigawatt smile on his face that could rival the sun in its intensity. "Really Sakura? You meant it? You'll go on a date with me?"

Sakura nodded.

"Yahoo!" Naruto cheered pulling Sakura into a hug. "You have no idea how happy I am."

And he had no idea how Jealous Ino was at that moment.

 **AN: What? back already? Man Nano is going to mess up my follower to chapter ratio I like. Ya'll should make it up to me by Hitting htat follow button! :D I'll love you for it!**

 **Anyways here's another chapter, Hope you all enjoy it. And remember this is a NaruIno fic. Sakura's just here because I like her.**


	7. Hydrangea

Ino thundered past the storefront, kicked open the door to her room and flung herself onto her bed. With her head buried into her pillow, she screamed. She screamed long, hard, and loud, the only thing that stopped eardrums within a two hundred foot radius from bursting was her valiant pillow.

She felt like shit.

Her limbs felt like they were on pins and needles while her stomach was an empty pit of despair, on the plus side her diet was going fantastic because she had absolutely no appetite, the last thing she actually ate that didn't make her want to vomit was the ramen she had with Naruto.

Speaking of the blond traitorous bastard, he and Billboard Brow were official, or to be more specific, official, but not let anybody know because Sakura's parents would freak out. That was a blatant lie, Sakura's parents probably didn't care that she was dating Naruto, hell her dad was just a big of a prankster as Naruto.

No the real reason why Sakura didn't want anybody to know that she was dating Naruto was simple. Sasuke. Sakura didn't want to let her precious Uchiha know that she was dating Naruto. Sasuke probably didn't even care. And the only reason why Ino hadn't told everybody, was because Naruto - the idiot - had asked her not to.

That was all fine and dandy. The real problem was…. The real problem was. She didn't know! Another scream erupted from her mouth and she slammed the pillow into her face kicking madly on the bed.

"Alright honey," Her mother said walking into the room. A moment later her mother sat on the bed and she felt a soft hand rub circles on her back. "That's two screams into the pillow, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Ino mumbled into the pillow. Great now her mother was concerned.

"Ino," her mother's voice soft but firm.

With a groan, Ino kicked her feet on the bed twice before she sighed. "Why don't you ask Naruto!?"

"Oh, and why would Naruto know why you're screaming into your pillow?"

Ino closed her eyes and tried to wish away her mother. When that didn't work she sighed. "Cause it's his fault."

"Ahh progress." Her mother patted her on the back like she was a babe to be burped. "Now, what exactly did Naruto do?"

"I don't know." She did; wait, no she didn't, she had no idea why she was feeling like this. She had no idea why the thought of Naruto and Sakura dating was making her want to vomit. Why it made her want to curl up into a ball and die. "Sakura's just using him for compliments and money, and it's driving me crazy that Naruto's so happy and stupid that he can't realize that she's using him like the bitch that she is and I should be happy that they're dating because then Sakura would be my friend again."

"If my pillow screaming is correct," Tsubaki was probably smiling right now, laughing at her misery. "Naruto and Sakura are dating, and that's what's making you so upset that you're screaming into your pillow?"

Ino bit her lip, trying to ignore the fact that her pillow was now damp. Was she crying? Why was she crying? Still, she nodded to her mother's question. "I guess."

"Hmm," Her mother was hmming that wasn't good it was never good when her mother was hmming it usually meant that her mother was going to be horribly wrong about something even if it was the truth. "I think that you're upset because Naruto is dating Sakura,"

Didn't they just cover that?

"And you have a crush on Naruto."

"What!?" Ino sat up so fast she was standing on her bed staring down at her mother. "How can I possibly like Naruto."

She huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face, as her fingers touched her chest as though the very idea offended her. "He's loud, annoying, stupid, I mean he likes Sakura, that's a special kind of stupid, he's a horrible ninja, he has no manners, I don't think he showers every day, I'm fairly certain he does laundry once a month despite the fact that he only owns like five outfits, he's cute, kind, sweet, and actually a super nice guy, much nicer than someone like Sakura deserves. And."

"And he should be dating you instead?" Her mother finished for her.

"Exactly, I would be perfect for Naruto, at least I would…." Oh…. Oh. "Treat…. Him…. right."

The truth came crashing down onto her with enough force to send her to her knees. She sat there in silence staring at the bow of her mother's apron. She liked Naruto. Oh god, she liked Naruto, this…. This was horrible!

"How can I like him, mom!" Ino finally looked into her mother's eyes. "I can't like Naruto, I shouldn't like Naruto!"

"Why not? He's a sweet boy, there's nothing wrong with-"

"No, you don't understand!" Ino shouted, her eyes felt wet. "Naruto was supposed to get Sakura to stop liking Sasuke and then we could be friends, and now I have a crush on him and every time I see either one of them I want to run away cry and puke and I can't sleep! I'm a horrible person."

"Oh, honey," Tsubaki pulled her daughter into a hug, placing Ino's head on her shoulder. "It's okay dear."

"No it's not," She gasped, grasping great handfuls of her mother's shirt. "It's all my fault. I used him to get Sakura to stop liking Sasuke! I'm a bitch."

Her mother began to rock her back and forth, the motion only made her stomach feel worse. "Do you know what my favorite flower is?"

"If you say me, you're cheesier than dad."

"Now, now, your father's cheesiness is what made me fall for him, but that's beside the point, my favorite flower is the Hydrangea, do you know why?"

Ino groaned, why was she still crying? How long was she going to feel like the worse person in the world? How long was she going to feel like garbage? "Cause dad gave it to you on the first date?"

"No, that was a rose." Her mother sighed into the blissful memories. That Ino would never have in a billion years. "The Hydrangea has many meanings. Gratitude, abundance, prosperity, grace, and beauty, maybe even a bit of vanity and narcissism. But the real meaning behind the flower is two-fold, honest heartfelt emotions of any kind and developing a deeper understanding between two people."

"What does that have to do with anything?" This had life lesson written all over it.

"I just think that it's a fantastic representation of you and Naruto. You two are both honest to the point of bluntness, especially with each other. It was quite nice watching your bond with Naruto form and then grow, he's your best friend now isn't he?"

"No," Her mom was stupid, this was stupid, everything was stupid, especially Sakura and Naruto. Especially Naruto... She was stupid. "Maybe… yes."

"It's okay to feel like Sakura is trying to steal him away, it's okay that you like the same boy as Sakura. Again." Did her mom really need to stress the 'again'? "And I know how hard it is to watch someone you care for be with someone else."

"Try the worse thing ever!" Ino pulled away from her mom, she wasn't sure if she'd run out of tears, or if her mother had actually helped. She doubted it was the latter. "I just want to curl up in my bed and die"

Ino flung herself back onto her bed and smothered herself with a pillow, she let out a good long scream that could probably be weaponized if she ever wanted to commit a war crime or two.

Tsubaki just pattered her on the stomach, and sighed, allowing Ino to work out her problems with a few long screams. "Just do me a favor dear, and try not to lose any friendships over this, it might be hard, but the best things in life aren't easy."

Ino remained silent until her mother stood. This wasn't helping, nothing would help, she just wanted to lay in bed and be miserable. And maybe stuff her face with chocolate.

"Oh, you and Naruto have the next few days off for the upcoming test, try not to let this distract you okay? You have such potential." With that her mother left the room, shutting the door without so much as a click.

Oh right, the stupid genin test, there was no way that she wasn't going to pass, even if she somehow failed the exams, she had good enough scores to at least pass, she might not end up on a good team, or anywhere near worthy of getting Sasuke's interest. Sasuke, the thought of him once made her heart flutter. But even with Sakura out of the way, he probably wouldn't even look her way.

Maybe she'd end up on a team with Naruto? and then... then on a long mission, she could convince him that he didn't like Sakura... and no... that wouldn't work. Naruto was too nice, he'd probably stay with a girl even if he didn't love them just to make them happy. It was pathetic really how self-sacrificing he was.

"Besides," Ino flopped to her side staring at the flower plants in her window, the one that she and Naruto had planted was nothing more than a single green leaf trying to wiggle its way up to the sun. "I think I've manipulated him enough."

XXXX

The weight of her headband felt heavy in her hands. But it wasn't what weighed her down. No, it was the same thing that had been weighing on her for a while. Naruto. He hadn't passed.

He looked so sad as he slowly rocked back and forth on the swing. But, what could she say? What could she do? she couldn't even make herself feel better, how could she make Naruto feel better?

And it wasn't like they'd spoke recently. It felt like she hardly knew him anymore.

What could she say? 'hey? wanna come celebrate with my family that I passed a test you failed?' That would just make things worse, which was all she could do. Just show up and make things worse and worse and worse.

Still, she found herself standing in front of him holding her headband tightly. If she could give it to him she would. It hurt seeing him like this, it hurt as bad as seeing him happy with Sakura.

"Naruto, are you going to be okay?" She asked, she knew the answer, he wanted to be the Hokage. And now he couldn't even become a genin. He had failed for the final time and deemed unfit to become a ninja.

He looked up at her and forced a smile. She never wanted to see him smile like that. It was a horrible thing like darkness had swallowed up the sun casting the world into despair. "Don't worry about me Ino, you should go celebrate with your family."

"But,"

"I'll be fine," his smile was more genuine this time, but still sad, he even gave a soft laugh that might have been a sob. "Look at it this way, I'll be able to spend more time at the shop."

"I..." What else could she say? Was there anything else for her to even say at this point? "Just... Well... If you ever need anything Naruto, don't be afraid to ask me, you're like my best friend."

Her heart quickened, racing faster and faster with each word she spoke, it felt so good to say that, like a stone had been removed from the mountain she carried on her back. And then there was his smile. Bright and cheerful shining with the radiance of the sun after an eclipse.

"And don't give up," She held out her fist to him. "You're still going to become the Hokage right?"

He stared at her fist in amazement. Then bumped her knuckles. They held that connection for a moment before he nodded. "Yea, I won't give up, not yet. Believe it!"

 **AN: Did I rush this? Maybe? but I kind of wanted to get all of Ino's feelings out there! Mostly because I'm going through some shit so I made Ino go through some shit and it just came out that way! Anyways I hope you enjoy, No idea what I'm working on next.**

 **Oh I started a new fic! What is Due, is a Naruto x Karin fic that doesn't start where other Naruto x Karin fics start, so I hope you all like it! Please go read it!**

 **(Follow me on Tumblr too!)**


	8. Yellow Hyacinth

The girl that looked back at her in the mirror was a mess. Bags drooped under her eyes, her smile was a twisted gnarled thing devoid of joy and energy. Even on her worse days Ino never allowed herself to be seen like this. Yet here she was with her hair down, headband tied around her waist in some vague attempt to be fashionable.

Shame that her ability to care was unbelievably small at the moment. "Sasuke probably won't even care if I showed up like this."

Some small part of her mind was screaming at her to get her ass in gear that she was going to be late, that she needed to show up and impress her team, make Sasuke drool and make Sakura look bad. But she was still focused on what happened Yesterday. "I couldn't even enjoy myself at my own graduation party. Naruto, I hope you're okay."

She tried to be happy that Naruto might keep working at the shop. But, that was a shallow victory. Naruto needed his dream of becoming Hokage it was… it was just so much about what he is. "Funny how I became your number one supporter huh Naruto?"

And now she was talking to herself in the mirror. Just great.

With a sigh Ino ran a hand through her long hair, she had grown it out for Sasuke. She still liked Sasuke She liked him a lot, but she liked Naruto too. If Naruto liked short hair would she cut it? It was getting long, nearly to her butt. "Still, it is pretty, and I really can't picture myself with short hair."

"Ino," Her mother called from downstairs. "You should get going you're going to be late!"

"Kay mom!"

"You better hurry unless you want to help me with these Yellow Hyacinth," It was a tease and one that got Ino's blood boiling. The Yellow Hyacinth had one meaning, Jealousy, it was an ugly yellow flower, and one that they did not grow.

It would be so easy to put her hair up into a ponytail, practical too. But, ultimately she just didn't feel like it. Just great, she was officially to depressed do her hair.

Ino exited her house, her loose hair flowing behind her like a river of platinum. It felt weird, how did Sakura deal with this all day? Then again her hair was much longer than Sakura's… cuter to. Maybe it was the style Naruto liked? If it was the color forget that, she was not going pink to save her life. She liked her blond, Naruto had a cute blond too.

"Why does it feel like I can only have Sasuke, Sakura, or Naruto in my life?" If she didn't have Naruto and Sasuke, she'd have Sakura. If she wanted Naruto she couldn't have Sakura or Sasuke. And Sasuke is what stuck her in her current situation. "Maybe daddy was right and I'm too young to be trying to get a boyfriend?"

It mostly wasn't worth the heartache. But she couldn't help it! She was a girl in love with a beating heart that ached for passion and companionship. And she had a weakness for cute boys with black hair. And then there was Naruto He wasn't ugly, or at least not anymore, he still wasn't anywhere near as cute as Sasuke. But Naruto talked to her, was nice to her, gave her flowers.

Why couldn't she swap Naruto and Sasuke's personality?

Wait, she totally could, well kind of She could swap their mind for about an hour or two. Sure it would be temporary, and ultimately Sakura would be the winner where she got to have her boyfriend's mind mixed with Sasuke's looks. And she got to have a goofy looking too cool for her Sasuke with Naruto's looks.

But maybe if she found out some way to just swap their personalities. No, bad Ino. That would be the wrong thing to do.

"Hey Pig," Sakura jeered entering Ino's field of vision from a side street.

She shouldn't have gotten out of bed. She should have just stayed in there and never woken up. Her new sensei would understand. She could just say she was on her period, that got her dad off her back and he was a jounin. Or just go all psycho teenager girl on them and just spew everything out all at once.

Though that might just land her in the psych ward.

"What do you want Sakura?" She was too tired for crappy and well-deserved nicknames.

Sakura fell into stride beside ino. A cocky I'm better than you smile on her face. "What's the matter Pig? Finally accepted that you can't match me in terms of beauty so you gave up?"

"Yea, sure whatever." Ino turned her head sharply to one side. It felt good to let that little bit of her foul mood escape to contaminate the air. Every single one of those words was coated with a virulent acid that could ruin whatever hope of friendship she had for Sakura.

"Ino?" Sakura looked hurt and sounded concerned, she reached out a hand for Ino's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Ino slapped the hand away and spun towards Sakura getting right in the pink haired girl's face. "It's none of your business Sakura, just leave me alone I don't want to deal with you right now!"

"Just because you don't stand a chance against me for Sasuke's heart doesn't mean you have to act like such a bitch." They were butting heads now, glaring into each other's eyes.

"Sasuke? Sasuke? You're still after Sasuke? What about Naruto?" Ino shoved Sakura back. With whatever strength she could muster in her weary limbs. She pushed again. "What about him huh? Isn't he supposed to be your boyfriend?"

She shoved again, pushing Sakura into a wall. "Are you just using him? Is that it huh? Are you just leading him on to make Sasuke jealous or to make yourself feel better because you're such a colossal bitch you need the nicest possible idiot to tell you, that you're not a complete and utter bitch!"

Ino screamed and left Sakura before the girl could say another world. She felt great. Fantastic. Better than she had in weeks. She called Sakura a bitch, she accepted that she liked Naruto. She might have known Sakura the longest, she might have wanted Sasuke the longest, but Naruto was at least friendly.

Sakura probably didn't even care that her boyfriend was depressed last night because he failed, she probably didn't even notice him sitting on the swing, it wasn't like Sakura would be seen in the classroom with Naruto, not where the girl's precious Sasuke could see them. And of course Naruto was either too stupid to notice, or just didn't care.

There was no way that she would ever be somebody's secret girlfriend. Even if it was a dork like Naruto. There would be hand holding, there would be arm grabbing, cheek kissing, and cheek rubbing. The world would know that Naruto was her's…. Or whoever was lucky enough to actually end up dating her.

Ino stopped in the doorway to her classroom and looked at the spiky blond head of Naruto. A Konoha headband was strapped to his head. He was here? He was a ninja? Oh no she looked absolutely horrible! And wait, why were her legs moving forward?

"Naruto!" She cheered running towards him, that bitter depression that had been following her vanished like the sun breaking through the clouds. "You're a ninja? You passed? Wait you didn't steal that did you?"

"What? No!" He stood to greet her, offering her the seat near the window. "I had a special test last night and Iruka-sensei gave me his headband, I also learned a really cool Jutsu!"

"Really, what Jutsu?" She took her seat next to him, a smile coming to her face easily. She hadn't had the chance to really hang out with Naruto for a while. This just felt…. Nice.

"Hehe, that's a secret, a ninja never gives away his trump card." He was such a dork. But a liar Naruto was not. "Oh, why are you wearing your hair down? Not that it's bad it looks really pretty like that."

Her heart leapt into her throat trying to replace her brain. All of her senses were drowned out by the beating of her heart that was caused by just a few words from this blond idiot. He thought she was beautiful even when she put no effort into her appearance, he thought she was beautiful. She immortalized those words in her mind, etching them into the very core of her being. They filled her with warmth and happiness and…

"Oh hey there Na-ru-to," Sakura sat down on the other side of Naruto and grabbed his arm, stealing him away from Ino. "I'm so happy that you passed!"

"Sakura?" Naruto asked, flailing his arms as Sakura pulled him into a hug, completely oblivious of the glare Sakura was giving Ino. "What are you doing? You're hugging me in class?"

Ino grunted and turned to look out the window. Her beautiful sunny day had just turned into a storm that heralded the end of days blocking out the sun so completely it was darker than the darkest nights.

"Why wouldn't I?" Sakura purred. Ino grit her teeth. "You're my boyfriend after all."

Oh, that little slut. She knew. Somehow in that giant forehead of her's Sakura had managed to correctly guess that Ino liked Naruto as something more than a friend. Now she was trying to make her jealous.

And it was working.

Ino glanced around, Sasuke was sitting right behind them, staring at the board with nothing but contempt and boredom, completely unphased by the Sakura's light display of affection towards Naruto.

"Well then Sakura," Ino gestured towards Sasuke with her eyes making certain that Sakura knew exactly where he was. "Why don't you give Naruto a kiss."

Sakura glared at her before she snorted. "Why would I do that?"

"To prove that Naruto is your boyfriend." Ino shot back, she was vaguely aware of the rest of Naruto trying to act as the peacekeeper between the two. She could feel the eyes of the class on them, and the roiling in her stomach that was telling her to stop.

"I don't need to prove anything to you."

"Then prove it to Naruto, cause you're the worst girlfriend I've ever seen. And really Sakura, it's just one kiss what are you afraid of? Sasuke seeing you kiss another boy?" Ino goaded, she needed to puke, it felt like her head was swimming in a sea of pain and awfulness.

"Fine!" Sakura growled. The breaking point. She grabbed Naruto by his collar and pulled him into a kiss. It was more their faces colliding than a real kiss.

To Ino it was the most horrible thing she had ever witnessed.

And Naruto didn't have to look so happy about it.

 **AN: Late night update! woo! got my words in for the day though! I hope you enjoyed this chapter I had a lot of fun writing it. No idea what I'm going to work on tomorrow... aside from sleep.**

 **Probably the Right Tempurature, or Warlock Acadamia.**


	9. Morning Glory

Sakura was just literally just a worse version of Ino.

Ino was the better shinobi, she was faster than Sakura, stronger than Sakura, prettier than Sakura, knew more jutsu than Sakura. The only thing that damn forehead girl had on her was her test scores, but that was because she had enough room in her fat head for half an extra brain.

Even Sakura's family was just a worse version of Ino's. Kizashi was a genin, they were both the same rank as the man who made most of his money as her father said 'being a best friend you paid for' to various nobles that just wanted to spend time with him. While Inoichi was a jounin, a strong capable member of Konoha and one of the elite.

Mebuki -Sakura's mother- much like her own mother, ran a business. A housekeeping business. They even paid Mebuki to clean their home and shop sometimes. It wasn't even a real shop or business, just a service!

There was no category that ino didn't trounce Sakura in. Sakura was just living a shallow reflection of Ino's life like it was some funhouse mirror.

Yet, she had Naruto.

Sasuke too, but that wasn't as important. Somehow, everything Ino loved, hated, desired, longed for, feared, and coveted was on Team Seven. Just thinking about them was enough for her to stop what she was doing, which pretty much constantly.

She tried and tried to go a day without thinking about them. To go an hour, a minute, a second. But they kept coming up to her mind reminding her that she had fucked up. If she hadn't tried to manipulate Naruto, if she had been honest with herself, if she didn't have feelings for Naruto or hell Sasuke too, then she wouldn't be feeling like a pile of shit in the middle of the desert.

Seeing them drove her crazy. But not seeing them was worse. Team Seven had gone on some C-rank mission to the wave. A few months ago. Every time she saw a blond anywhere near a shade of pink she got this weird double emotion of joy and crushing depression, only for it to be absolutely nothing.

The thought of seeing them made her stomach roil. But worse was the feeling that she might never see him again. It was the feeling that kept her awake at night, the feeling that kept her from getting out of bed, the feeling that stopped her from eating. She had lost five lbs.

Heartbreak and depression was one hell of a diet.

Ino slumped onto the countertop of the family store, she was here alone again. It was just her and the flowers, with no Naruto. It still felt unreal to work the shop without him milling about playing in the dirt or doing something stupid to make her smile.

The door jingled and Ino sighed. "Welcome to the Yamanaka Flower Shop, let me know if you need anything."

She couldn't even bother to look up to see who the customer was. She just wanted to see Naruto again. This… this really sucked. Her first love was being wasted on a boy that loved her best friend and she set them up. She felt like puking, but she already did that twice, all that came out was the clear foul-smelling bile that burned.

She vaguely heard the customer walk behind the counter. Great, it was the annoying nosey type of customer, or worse her mother who was going to scold her… again. "You can't be…"

She turned to look at him, and it was like seeing the sun for the first time. It was Naruto! In all of his short blond orange-clad glory! He looked exactly the same, but he looked like an entirely different person at the same time. It made her heart beat, and her face heat up as she felt a smile form on her face for the first time in a long time.

"Miss me Ino?" He rubbed his nose smiling at her like he was up to something.

There were many things she could have done at the moment, snort and brush him off by going hard on the tsundere, blush, and stammer saying that she did. But none of those felt right. Instead, her body acted on its own.

"Naruto!" She half laughed half shouted as she bounded over to him throwing her arms around his neck. This was what happiness felt like. This was the pure joy that had been sapped from her life these last few months. She could already feel some tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"Woah!" His laughter was like honey. As he caught her waist so easily and spun around with her. "Are you that happy to see me?"

He had no idea. He might have only been gone for a few months, but that felt like a lifetime filled with dull grey days that blended into one another with no variety or change. "Of course I missed you, you're my best friend, I'm allowed to be worried about you."

She took a step back hands behind her back as she leaned forward ever so slightly. She bit the inside of her lip to hold down her smile. It was like a single sandbag holding back a tidal wave. Realization hit her as she looked at him smiling at her with the slightest blush on his cheeks: She wasn't just crushing on Naruto.

She was in love with him. Or the closest thing a thirteen-year-old girl could feel to love.

"Hehe, well I missed you too, how was Konoha without me?" Naruto leaned on the counter as he so often did during their downtime.

Ino took her spot next to him, though her eyes never left his face. "It was so boring, honestly I thought I was going to die from boredom. The only thing that's been keeping me busy is the chunin exams, Asuma's been pushing us hard."

"Chunin exams?" Right, he was an idiot. But he was going to be her idiot.

"It's how we get promoted to Chunin, it's a special kind of test and all villages allied with Konoha are allowed to come and compete. Lots of Grass ninja have come by recently." Some of them were rude, but a few were nice, there was a redhead that just liked to smell the flowers.

"Wait. What? How did I miss this? Is it too late to sign up?" In true Naruto fashion, he was panicking over nothing.

Ino snorted and bumped her elbow against Naruto's arm. "Don't worry, they're having a jounin meeting about it today, Asuma thinks that my team is ready so yours should be too. It's also why I'm in the shop today, no sensei means no missions."

"Ahh, that makes sense, Kakashi-sensei gave us the day off too," Naruto said smiling. He bumped her back with his shoulder.

Any second now they were going to break out into a tickle fight.

This could be her chance if she told him how she felt now while they were alone and just… well, just happy then maybe Naruto would accept her feelings. But what if he didn't what if he pushed away? The thought brought the sourness back to her stomach, and once more she did nothing.

"So how are things with your team?" Naruto asked what felt like forever.

Ino brushed a bit of the hair out of her face, looking away from Naruto for just a second. The world seemed brighter, like a grey fog had been lifted from it. "Well, it's Shikamaru and Choji, you know how they are, constantly eating or sleeping sometimes both at the same time. But we make a good team."

"That's great!"

"What about you? How are things on Team Seven?" She regretted those words the moment she spoke them.

"They're okay I guess," Naruto didn't seem happy. Why did that make her happy? "Sasuke's a jerk, so we fight all the time, even when we're supposed to be actually working together, and Sakura tries to help sometimes, but... Nevermind."

"No, tell me." Years of being a gossip were kicking in. she thirsted for this knowledge. She desired it she needed to know more than anything. This was her hope. "It's okay Naruto you can tell me, I'm your friend after all."

He looked at her and sighed his shoulders slumping. "Well, it's just she's my girlfriend Ya'know?"

Ino snorted, "trust me I know."

"So shouldn't she be on my side sometimes? It's like when Sasuke's around she's a different person, she's afraid, and I... I don't know I kind of want her to be how she is when it's just me and her all the time, or at least take my side more than she takes Sasuke."

This was perfect. Trouble in paradise! Sakura was being a crappy girlfriend! Ino wanted to run and scream and shout! "Well Sakura did have a crush on Sasuke for the longest time, you can't expect her to give up on him even if she has you."

"Yea, I guess that's true." Naruto smiled. "Still I'm really happy when she's around it cancels out Sasuke being around that's for sure. Oh hey, I know! Why don't I try to set you and Sasuke up?"

"Pass." Ino blinked at how fast those words slipped out of her mouth like it didn't even deserve a second thought. This was Sasuke Naruto was trying help her with, the boy that she had had a crush on for years. But... Sasuke wasn't Naruto.

"Wait. what? Do you not like Sasuke or something?"

Ino smiled and spun around so that her butt rested against the counter and her long hair fell over it. "I guess I kind of just lost interest in him, he's kind of a jerk now that I think back on it."

"Well, darn, there goes that. Is there someone else you like though? I think a double date would be fun."

sounded like torture really. Especially if forehead was there hanging off of Naruto like a slutty flag.

"Hmm," Ino hummed placing a finger on her lip. "There is somebody I like."

Naruto looked so happy. "Really who? Do I know them?"

"Not telling," Ino's smile turned teasing. "A girl has to have some secrets after all."

"Aww, that's not fair! how am I supposed to make you happy if you can't tell me who you like!?" Naruto pouted. He didn't need to try to make her happy. He already did that all on his own.

"Well you could always lavish me with gifts, that's a great way to make me happy."

Naruto's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh! that reminds me! I got these for you from the Wave."

He handed her two bags of seeds. "One is the Morning-Glory flower, and I don't know what the other one is."

Morning-Glory, it wasn't a rare flower, but it was one that was missing from her collection. It meant beauty and affection. Giving her the seeds was like giving her the flowers themselves right? Was Naruto secretly harboring feelings for her even as he dated Sakura?

"I got you the Morning Glory because of how pretty it was, and it's purple so I think it's a lot like you."

Ino smiled and held the bags tight to her chest. "Thank you, Naruto they mean a lot."

"I don't know what the other one is though, it was kind of pink, but really pretty too. I can't wait for you to see it bloom."

"Me too Naruto, me too." More than he would ever know.

There was a scream from outside. "You little perv, watch where you're walking!"

That was Sakura.

"Ahh stay away from me you monster! Boss! help!"

Naruto sighed. "Well see ya Ino, I have to go save Konohamaru from my girlfriend."

"Yea, see you later." It was barely a whisper as she watched him leave the store running out into the busy streets of Konoha. Her heart still pounding.

Once again Naruto had given her flowers. Flowers that she could nurture and grow herself. And wait. Did he call her pretty? He did! He said that she was pretty like the morning glory! How could she have missed that?

Ino screamed and stomped her feet clutching the two seeds packs like her life depended on it. This was great! Fantastic! The boy that she liked thought that she was pretty! That meant that taking his eyes off Forehead would be all easier.

"Watch yourself Sakura, I'm not giving up without a fight."

 **AN: Hey guys! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. It was supposed to be a time skip heavy chapter, jumping ahead a lot to a few key moments. But instead, it turned into this beautiful chapter. Next chapter will probably jump around a bit, like skipping most of the Chunin exams... or all of it. After that I have to get the real time skip chapter set up. I'm certain you'll like what I have planned.**


	10. Yellow Roses

Yellow Roses were the most disgusting and loathsome flower they kept in stock. They meant jealousy, infidelity, a broken heart, extreme betrayal, sure they also meant friendship, apology, and undying love. But those were minor things.

Ino growled and ran a hand through her hair, or at least she tried to as it was now barely long enough to make a pony-tail. She just had to cut it to prove to Billboard brow that she was a ninja too. She glared at the thorny flower as she slowly trimmed it from its bush. "Just a few more and I get to go cheer Naruto on at the stadium."

It had been over a month since she had seen the bonehead, he kept drifting in and out of her life at random. She missed seeing his dopey smile every day as they came in for work. If only she could go back in time and properly enjoy those days.

And prevent herself from literally giving Naruto away on a silver platter, and to Forehead of all people. What on earth had she even been thinking? Probably something about Sasuke. Not that she wouldn't say no to a date with the boy, but if Naruto asked to hang out the same time that Sasuke asked her out.

Naruto would win hands down.

Just like today, Naruto was going to meet Sasuke in the finals. And she was going to cheer for Naruto as loud as she could. She should sit next to Sakura to rub it in her face and to make it apparent to Naruto that while Sakura wasn't willing to cheer him on against Sasuke, she would.

The bell rang, and Ino spun on her heel.

"Welcome to Yamanaka Flower Sh-" She realized who it was, it was Sakura with her hair cut short like it made her a better ninja or something.

"Oh, it's you." Ino turned back her work as she plucked another thorn off the rose. "What do you want?"

Sakura had the audacity to take a step forward like they were old friends or something. "Well, it's just that the Chunin exams are going to start soon, and I was hoping you'd like to sit next to me."

Ino discovered that she could glare and smile at the same time. "Now why would I do that?"

"So we could cheer Sasuke and Naruto on." Sakura held her ground against Ino's glare. It sucked that the shy little bud she had found and nurtured all those years ago had turned into such a rotten thorny flower.

Ino examined her flower for a moment before she placed it in a small vase. "Give me a second."

Moments later Ino emerged from the flower shop, and walked past Sakura, forcing the girl to play catch up.

"So," Ino said without even looking towards Sakura. Just seeing her was enough to make her stomach turn and bile creep up into her throat. "Have you heard from either of them?"

She spared a glance towards Sakura, it was almost enough to make her want to hug the girl. Sakura looked torn, with a single hand over her heart, her eyes watching the ground in front of her. "I haven't, Sasuke went off to train with Kakashi-sensei and Naruto… well you know how he is, he gets so excited about training that he forgets to eat."

Sounded like a halfway decent diet.

"So you haven't heard from either of them all month?" That didn't sound like… well, it sounded like Sasuke but Naruto not so much.

Sakura shrugged. "I went out for ramen once with Naruto, said he was being trained out to summon frogs by a pervert."

"Yea but Naruto calls everybody a pervert even if he is a little perv himself." At Least his sexual orientation wasn't in question.

"What about you? How's Shikamaru doing for the chunin exams? And should we cheer for him too?" Sakura asked once again holding her head up high. The stadium was in view now and a crowd was filtering in.

Ino snorted. "If I cheered for Shikamaru he'd be laying on his back thinking 'Troublesome woman' or something like that while he slowly maneuvered the sand chick to where he wanted her."

"But what if he fights Sasuke or Naruto down the line."

"He'd give up."

"He'd give up?"

"Yea, he told Asuma he's only going to do the first fight and then after that, he was going to forfeit and go eat BBQ with Choji." Ino smiled at the memory, she felt like she should be on Asuma's side when it came to motivating Shikamaru, but on the other hand getting him to agree to do that was a feat in itself. "Besides Shikamaru's the kind of guy that it doesn't matter if you're cheering for him or not, he's going to do what he thinks he needs to, glory and stuff like that just isn't important to him."

"Wow," Sakura said with a soft smile, a pink brow raised suggestively into her massive forehead. "It sounds like you know a lot about Shikamaru."

She knew more about Naruto. "Yea, well he's my teammate and I've been inside his head one too many times not to understand how he thinks. I even know a bit about what goes inside your fat head."

Sakura huffed turning her chin up slightly. "It's not like I wanted you to be inside my head."

"Yea that was made clear, that really hurt by the way, do you have any idea what it feels like to have your mind get punched in the face?" she turned to Sakura and gestured at her jawline. "I felt phantom pains for days! My dad says I'm lucky that it's just pained, he's been knocked out of his body before."

"I'm sorry?"

"You better be."

They slipped inside the front gates and made their way up to viewing deck. The stadium was packed, filled to the brim with ninjas and civilians alike. She could see a few of the genin already standing in line, Shikamaru looked like he was dragged out of bed and was ready to fall back asleep at a moment's notice.

"Who do you think will win?" Sakura asked as they took their seat next to the stairs. From here they could see nearly all of the arena.

"Naruto," Ino smiled as she sat down, folding her legs in victory like that statement that slipped from her lips was the end all be all of the discussion. "He's going to be our Hokage one day."

"Do you actually believe in him?"

"You mean you don't?"

Sakura gasped and looked down at her hands. "It's not that I don't…. It's just that I… well I think it's a dream that should be protected. And well…"

"I get it," Ino sighed leaning back into her seat. "Well at least I kind of do, you're trying to say that you want him to be able to follow his dream you just don't know if it's possible right?"

"I…. yea… That's about right." Sakura looked so much like that shy little girl that was so unsure about everything. "So does that mean if Sasuke and Naruto fought you'd cheer for Naruto?"

"And you wouldn't?" She could see Naruto running into the arena to line up next to Shikamaru, only Sasuke was missing now.

"I... " Sakura trailed off. "I don't know, they're both really important to me."

Ino glared at Sakura. "Naruto's your boyfriend."

Those words felt like acid as they came out of her mouth, but the effect on Sakura was worth it. Sakura shrunk away and looked all the small before Ino. This was what she was mad at? This pathetic little girl that was so afraid of what people thought of her that she would lead on the only boy nice enough to call her petty.

"Yea," Sakura trailed off looking down at the field. "I know that. It's just… I kind of wish that I saw what you see in Naruto. And I am trying, I don't want to lead him on. I don't want to…"

Were those tears? Sakura was crying about this! Great now she felt bad for making her cry.

The proctor announced that they would give Sasuke until his match before they disqualified him. That meant that Naruto would be fighting soon.

"It's not that hard, you just need to give him a bit of attention and watch what he'll bloom into." Ino smiled as Naruto took his spot on the field opposite of Hinata's stuck up cousin or whatever he was. She couldn't hold back her excitement and stood up. "Go Naruto! Show that moody prick what you can do!"

Sakura stood with her. "Cha! Kick his ass Naruto!"

Ino stared at Sakura and felt a smiling coming onto her face, Sakura mirrored her and began to smile as well. They plopped back down into their seats oblivious to the stares of the crowd that that troublemaker Naruto brat had two of the loudest cheerleaders in the village.

"You know, I really do miss you." Sakura smiled, her body relaxed as though cheering for Naruto had restored her own confidence. "I want to be friends again."

Her blood boiled at the thought of it. Of being friends with the person that was dating Naruto. That'd be like giving up. Submitting defeat and saying that Sakura won. The fight started, and Naruto charged in, producing several of his shadow clones.

From fighting with Shikamaru Ino knew when an opponent was doing something on purpose, when they were leading or baiting somebody into a trap. Naruto was to do trying the same to Neji. It looked to be working as one of the clones didn't disappear. It was the real one! Naruto had snuck in with his clones to distract Neji and create an opening.

Then things went sour just as Naruto was about to land a solid hit, Neji spun deflecting Naruto and eliminating his clones. The force was enough that Naruto got sent to the ground.

"Come on Naruto! Get up! You can do it!" Ino cheered, it was easier to ignore Sakura when she was cheering for Naruto. Naruto made a lot of things easier.

"Don't give up! Naruto!" Sakura joined in just a loudly.

As though powered by their command Naruto got up and charged at Neji, with more clones this time.

Neji deflected them again and again, without so much as breaking a sweat. Then he attacked the real Naruto with a series of blows, knocking him down on to the ground.

"Naruto! Get up! You can beat him! I believe in you!" Ino screamed at the top of her lungs. Her heart was pounding, her face felt flush and her fists were clenched.

"Go Naruto!" Sakura joined in. "Show him what you can do!"

Again Naruto stood up. But something was different this time. He charged at Neji with no clones, faster than before and zoomed around him almost faster than Neji could react. The fight kept shifting from one side to the next, Naruto was always on the attack, but Neji didn't need to attack to win.

With a final assault, Naruto charged in with several clones and Neji deflected them all, but not before Naruto managed to get a single power-packed punch that sent them both to the ground.

When the dust settled, Neji stood. And Naruto lay on the ground unmoving. The crowd was silent as Neji's words echoed up from the arena floor as nothing more than inaudible whispers.

"No," Ino whispered, clutching her heart. What would Naruto do now? Would he be upset that he didn't make chunin? Would he lose motivation? This was Naruto. He had to do something. She had to do something. "Naruto! Get up!"

The ground from beneath Neji cracked, and the Naruto that laid in the crater vanished like a clone. And Naruto gave Neji one hell of an uppercut that laid the boy flat on his ass.

The crowd went wild. And nobody cheered louder than Ino as she jumped screamed and hugged Sakura.

Wait. She was hugging Sakura. How could she let this happen?

"Hey Ino, you really like Naruto huh?" Sakura had a confident know it all smirk that she wanted to slap off her face.

Ino pushed Sakura away and huffed. "What do you think?"

"Ino, please I want to hear it from you."

"Fine, I like Naruto, I like him a lot, more than I like Sasuke." That felt really good to say. Even if it was to someone like Sakura.

Sakura smiled brightly and took a step back. "I can't say the same," she smiled down at Naruto who was relishing the cheers of the crowd as he was ushered out of the arena.

"And why do you sound so happy about that?" she should be happy that Naruto won the fight instead she was wanting to start round two with Sakura here and now.

"Because I've decided." She smiled looking up at the sky like she was staring at some bright future. "I'm going to break up with Naruto."

Ino wasn't certain why she punched Sakura in the face, or why she felt guilty a moment later. But she understood why she felt so happy. "Sorry! That was reflex I swear!"

"Liar," Sakura laughed, rubbing her jaw. "But I think I deserved that just a bit."

 **AN: Hey look a chapter with no Naruto in it. Anyway hope you like'd it! now that the needless drama bit is done with I can start setting up for the time skip. I only need about 10k more words for Nano, and I might be taking a bit of break in december. Just giving you a fair warning.**

 **Follow me on Tumblr! I promise I'll actually update stuff.**


	11. Blue Violets

As good of friends as she was with Naruto this was her first time seeing his home. It wasn't what she had thought it would be, she had expected a shack in disrepair not a perfectly normal apartment. The only indication that it was Naruto's was the wooden plaque on the door that said 'Uzumaki' in Naruto's sloppy scrawl.

According to Sakura, he hadn't come out of his home in three days. The death of the Third Hokage combined with Sakura's ill-timed break up must have been hard on him. That damn forehead, even when she was trying to do the right thing she messes it up in the most spectacular way.

Ino tapped on Naruto's door. "Naruto? You here? It's me, Ino."

For a while there was nothing. She knocked again. And there were footfalls. The lock clicked open, and the door crack open just enough for Naruto to stick his head out.

He looked liked shit. Like all of his energy and happiness had been sucked inside and locked away tight. Now it was her job to bring that spark of life that once defined Naruto back. "Hi, Ino."

"Can…" All of her magazines that went over how to help a friend that went through a breakup did not prepare her for this. "Can I come in?"

He pulled away and looked back into his apartment. "It's a mess."

"This surprises me how?"

Naruto shrugged and backed away from the door, allowing it to swing open. "Come on in."

The inside of Naruto's apartment wasn't a trash dump like she had expected it to be, sure there was what looked like a single player game of garbage jenga in the kitchen, but most of the mess was limited to a layer of dust that coated just about everything, and a few abandoned articles of clothing.

It smelled like mildew and ramen.

But the thing that caught Ino's eye was Naruto's modest collection of flowers. Sitting in the window next to the sink was the dwarf sunflower her mother gave him now fully grown. Next to it was a bed of blue violets said to represent trustworthiness, faith, affection, that was so teeming with life vigor that they were practically overflowing their small square pot.

"Are those Blue Violets?" Ino asked ignoring the filth in Naruto's apartment and making a Beeline towards the flowers. They were vibrant and healthy, and their color was just the perfect shade of purple. "You did a great job raising them Naruto, they're beautiful."

"Thanks," He smiled for a second and shuffled over to her, nearly tripping on a long forgotten shirt. The smile died as he reached out and plucked one of the flowers twirling it in his fingers for a moment. He sighed and placed it behind her ear.

Ino's brain stopped, so her heart took over and began to beat faster and faster. Was this Naruto rebounding? Why was he giving her another flower? Did he know what they meant? He read some books on that, didn't he? Oh god oh god, what should she do? Quick, stand there and blush like an idiot!

"They kind of remind me of you."

This jerk he wasn't sad at all he probably knew all along that this was going to happen and had just tricked her into liking him! That said, her favorite flower was now Blue Violets, for an entirely different reason than Naruto saying that it reminded him of her.

She should cover his house in them.

"Oh?" Ino tried to sound confident but it just came out as a squeak."What-what, makes you say that?"

Naruto just shrugged, his arms flopping to his sides like a bird failing to flap, his smile was gone now. "They're purple, and it's your favorite color."

That made a lot more sense. Still new favorite flower, and it was the third flower that Naruto had given her! That had to mean something right? Okay, calm down Ino, you need to take this slow if you rush into be Naruto's rebound it will only be a temporary thing. At Least if the magazines are to be believed.

"So, why are you here anyway?" Naruto asked her scratching the back of his head. "Not that I'm complaining, I just kind of want to be alone."

"That's exactly why I'm here!" Ino snapped, poking her finger into Naruto's chest. Her embarrassment vanishing under the flames of rage fueled by concern. "You haven't left your house in three days Naruto, for a guy like you, that's not normal! Now get your clothes on we're going out."

"But I…"

"Clothes, now!" Her scowl softened and she gave him her best pout. "Please Naruto."

"Guh, fine just don't pout!" Naruto threw his arms up and half stomped to his room.

Ino smiled, he really didn't put up much of a fight.

He came back dressed in his standard shinobi attire headband strapped proudly to his head. "Well, what are we going to do."

"Hmm," Ino pursed her lips and tapped on them. "I don't know walk, talk, and get ramen later?"

"So you didn't have a plan?"

"Well, it's not like you'd have one!" Ino huffed. "You'd probably show up in my window and be all like 'Ino a beautiful girl like you shouldn't be crying, here let me take you aware and make you forget all your troubles.'"

Naruto snorted. "That doesn't sound anything like me!"

"Whatever, now come on." She grabbed his hand. They were holding hands! This was amazing! This was a date right? Sure she'd be paying for it. But this totally counted as a date. Even if her date was depressed. "Let's go for a walk and you can tell me what happened for the month I didn't see you."

XXXX

"So after the pervert hit me in my stomach I was finally able to walk on the water!" Naruto shouted they were wandering through one of the many forested areas of Konoha. The path was rugged and littered with rocks and trees of various sizes. It ran parallel to a calm creek that was clear enough it's rocky bed could be seen.

"Oh? Maybe he unlocked a chakra point or something" Ino smiled at him, her arms behind her back, she looked really cute like that, especially the way that she was smiling at him. It wasn't much, but it was enough to forget about the last few days. "Are you sure it wasn't just gas and he shook you loose?"

"What?" Naruto gasped taking a step back in disgust. "Eww, no, how could you even say something like that? Don't girls think that stuff is gross."

Ino shrugged, tilting her head to the side. "Ehh, you're a gross nasty boy, remember how you beat Kiba? Your gas is not to be underestimated. Even if it is super gross."

Naruto frowned if he didn't know that's where the Kyuubi's seal was he might have believed Ino. "Please don't tell me that makes me the gassy Ninja?"

"At Least you'd be silent but deadly."

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth hanging open as he looked at Ino. "Did you really just say that?"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." She hopped forward pressing a finger to her lips. "But even if you tell anybody they will never believe you."

Why would he tell anybody? "You don't have to worry about that Ino."

She grabbed his hand again, her hand was so soft, and warm, and delicate. He liked it when she grabbed his. He liked it when she paid attention to him. It made him feel wanted. With a pull, she dragged him off the path and towards the river. "Hey, do you think you can show me how to walk on water too?"

"Huh, you don't know how?"

"Nah, now come on, it'll be fun!" She pulled him again and walked onto the rocky shore of the creek. Her smile was infectious, with every laugh and giggle he was beginning to feel more like himself.

"But I don't know how to teach it!" Naruto protested he was actually getting kind of hungry. And didn't Ino say something about ramen?

"Oh please, I'm a fast learner." Ino laughed. With one hand she tossed off one shoe and then the other. "If you want extra motivation I can go get my Bikini."

"What? No! I'm not like the pervy sage!" Why did he say that? Wait, why was he thinking that? The memory if Ino showing him her itty-bitty-yellow-polka-dot bikini for the first time was something that was seared into his mind.

"Please Naruto, I already said I would give you ramen later." Ino was pouting again. That was just not fair, she could get away with anything with that pout. "Pretty please?"

He sighed and took a step onto the water. "Fine… the first thing you have to do it…"

XXXX

"Hey, don't be so depressed just because I learned how to walk on water in a day," Ino smiled rubbing a hand on Naruto's back as they walked towards what was becoming her favorite restaurant, mostly because whenever she went there it was with Naruto. "Remember girls have better chakra control than boys."

"I know but still, you didn't even get wet!" Naruto's pout was something that could melt her heart on a cold day. "Like you made it look so easy!"

Because it was easy, almost as easy as being happy around her fellow blonde. All of this was to cheer him up, and yet she couldn't recall the last time she had been this happy, probably when they went shopping. "Yea but you wanna know what you make look easy?"

"What?"

"Eating ramen." She laughed and grabbed his hand again, all but sprinting towards the stall. Screw diet! Any date with Naruto was worth a messing up any diet! Besides he already thought she was pretty.

Still, what if the shopkeeper said something? Didn't Naruto use to take Sakura here? What if they asked if she was his new girlfriend? What would Naruto say? Would he blush and bumble like an idiot? Or would he waive it off saying that she was just a friend?

Should she say that it's a date? Would that make Naruto happy? How long was she supposed to wait before asking someone out that just got their heart torn out and thrown on the ground? Probably more than three days.

She'll just handle it in stride and continue to support Naruto, yeah that sounded like the best idea.

"Hey old man!" Naruto shouted the second they entered the small stall. He spun onto a seat next to her and waited for her to sit down. "One Miso ramen please."

"I'll have the Shio ramen!" Ino chirped, she had made the right choice having a light breakfast.

Ino smiled as her stomach rumbled happily at the bowl of ramen that was placed in front of her. Moments later a bowl was placed in front of Naruto and he smiled at her, he looked just like his old self, was this her doing? It felt great knowing that she could heal him like this.

"Let's dig in!" Naruto shouted breaking his chop-sticks.

"Yea!" Ino laughed joining him by slurping up the delicious noodles. Oooh, what should they do after this? Go for another walk, maybe go to the movies? Is there a scary one on? There was that one chick flick playing but that would just bore Naruto, a good scary movie would give her the opportunity to be ever so slightly clingy. "So, Naruto…"

"Ohoho, so this was where you were." A deep jolly voice said as a tall man with a mass of white hair entered the stall, "I've been looking for you all day Naruto."

"What do you want Pervy-Sage?"

The man scowled at Naruto, then looked at Ino and his face turned into a wide smile. "Are you sure you want to let your little girlfriend know that you're being taught by a pervert."

Ino sucked in a noodle and tried not to freak out. This was it! The moment of truth!

"What? That's Ino."

Well, that told her nothing.

"Well, whatever, I need you to finish up here brat. We have a mission, and I'm going to be teaching you a super awesome technique on the way." The Pervy-sage laughed and slapped Naruto on the back.

Ino did not like this man.

"Really? that's great Jiraiya." Naruto leaped from his chair a giant smile on his face as he wiggled out of pure excitement. He then looked at her, and his excitement died, then it grew again. "Hey, do you think Ino can come? She's a super good ninja too, she learned how to walk on water in just an hour!"

Wait, did Naruto just say Jiraiya. Jiraiya as in one of the three legendary Ninja? Teammate of the legendary Tsunade? And here Naruto was calling him a pervert.

"Nope," Jiraiya said with a pop. "This is just a mission for you and me."

"Aww but why not! Forget it if Ino can't go then I won't."

Ino smiled and rolled her eyes, getting out of Konoha was probably exactly what he needed…. If her magazines were to be trusted. "Naruto it's fine, I have to help with the shop tomorrow anyway."

"Look brat, my hands are tied, I only have permission to take you." Jiraiya sighed, "Now come on, we need to get going."

Naruto looked at her and frowned. "I'm sorry Ino I really did want to hang out more."

"Don't worry Naruto." She had no idea how she ended up hugging him. "We can do this again when you come back."

She wanted to say date. She really really wanted to say date.

"I'll be sure to hurry back then."

 **AN: OOOOh, second date? second date! also look we're back to the fluff! Next chapter is the last chapter before the time skip. And it might be a little shorter than average. But hopefully its still good.**


	12. Forget-Me-Nots

The path to the hospital was one that Ino knew like the back of her hand, deliveries to patients there were nearly a weekly occurrence. Most of the time the flowers were for good health, the bring a bit of life into a place where people waited to die.

She ran down the hallway, her heart pumping faster and faster with each step, as she ignored the shouts of the nurses not to run. Her team went on a mission without her. They were a team. As strong as they were separately they were stronger together. And they got hurt because she wasn't there. If she was there she could have done something.

And then there was Naruto. He was here too. She needed to see him too. After she made sure Shikamaru and Choji were okay. Then she'd see him. Then she'd stay with him. They all needed to be okay. If they weren't okay then she'd… she'd… she'd….

"Ino," Shikamaru rasped from his sitting position on the bench. "Calm down, you're getting worked up."

"I'm not getting worked up over nothing!" Ino spat back turning to see the chunin on her team, a vest that was well earned, he had a few minor cuts and bruises, but his fingers were in a splint.

"I never said it was nothing," Shikamaru sighed a deep frown set in. "I'm just saying that getting worked up over this won't help anything. Somehow they're all alive, all we can do is learn from our mistakes."

"Like not taking me?" Ino snapped glaring at Shikamaru.

Her teammate sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You weren't home, I didn't have a lot of time to look for you and besides that, you're not the combat type, nor is your jutsu useful for a pursuit mission. If it was ambush I would have loved to have you along. But in this mission, you would have been."

"A liability? A burden?" She wanted to punch him hard.

"Yes." Shikamaru's bluntness knew no bounds. "Believe me if it was any other kind of mission I would have tried harder to find you. But your abilities are not well suited in a pursuit type mission. Especially given the targets we were facing. Their curse marks would have made your jutsu useless."

The truth stung like a thousand wasps.

"Besides, I don't think Naruto would be able to concentrate if he knew you were in harm's way." his frown turned into that malicious half smirk that he was too lazy to finish. "But hey, I and Choji are fine, so you're duty as our teammate is fulfilled, go check on Naruto, he needs to be cheered up."

Did he know? Of course, he knew he was Shikamaru! But why didn't say anything? He was supposed to be smart not empathetic! Hell, he probably thought thinking about girls was troublesome or something! "You knew?"

"You're painfully obvious when you like someone, even Choji knew that you liked Naruto." She really wanted to punch that damn smile off of his face.

Ino frowned feeling a blush form on her face. Great just great! "Who else knows?"

"Well… Kiba figured it out a while ago, overheard your talk with Sakura, Shino too probably. Actually, I think most of the village knows."

Oh. Great her life was over now. "And nobody told me?"

"Do you tell the person you're gossiping about the gossip?"

"When they're my friend yes!" Actually, she would tell everybody else first and mean to tell them later…. Probably… she'd get around to it. "Okay fine I wouldn't."

"Exactly no go bother Naruto," Shikamaru's eyes flickered down the hallway to where the blonde wind user from Suna stood glancing his way. "I'll let Choji know you stopped by once he's out of there."

So that's how it was.

With a huff Ino stomped off, Shikamaru didn't deserve to see her smile, troublesome idiot. Still, she wished him luck.

Naruto's room was easy to find, all she had to do was follow the whines about being forced to stay in the hospital. The setting sun casts an orange light through his window bathing the area in one final warm afterglow before the cold night set in.

"Why can't we stay in the village though?" She heard Naruto whine.

Was he talking to someone? Someone wanted to take Naruto away from the village… again? The last time that happened he came home with the Hokage.

"Dammit, brat you know why." That was Jiraiya's voice. Another training trip combined with a mission?

"Guh Yea, I know. But how long are we going to be away for?" Naruto sounded so defeated, even the eagerness. "We still need to bring Sasuke back."

"Three years," Jiraiya said softly. "You have three years before Orochimaru can use his Jutsu again to take over Sasuke's body so we'll be training for those three years to get you as ready as possible."

"So we'll be gone from Konoha for three years?" Naruto flopped back onto his bed and let out a groan. "Aww man! How am I going to tell this to Ino?"

That brought a small smile to her face even as she felt a tear slide down her face. Was Naruto going to be gone for three whole years? She couldn't even imagine what that would be like. That was longer than they'd been friends! Would it still be okay to confess to him? Would she still like him in three years?

She braced against the door and held her heart. She was going to tell him that she liked him as soon as things had settled down, they had been on so many dates filled with laughter and happiness. Or at least she considered them dates. She was so close to telling him.

"Well, you better figure it out brat, cause she's standing in the door." Jiraiya sounded so smug.

Ino took the hint and walked into the room. The first thing she saw was the bandages that covered Naruto from head to toe. It made her stomach twist first Choji and Shikamaru now Naruto. They were all hurt and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Ino?" Naruto asked before he smiled. "So uh, what's up?"

"So you're leaving?" She squeaked out. Trying her hardest not to cry. There was no way that she could tell him if he left If he stayed she'd tell him.

"Right well have fun with your girlfriend Brat." Jiraiya hopped down from the window. Ino glared at the spot where he once stood.

"I… yea… I think I'm going to go on a training trip with Jiraiya again." He scratched the back of his head looking heartbreakingly adorable.

"Do you want me to water your plants?" Why did she say that? Why couldn't she just be honest! He should know that she liked him! That might make him stay right? Or maybe it would make him like her while he was out traveling the world and prevent him from bringing home some hussie as his girlfriend.

Or it might make him come back sooner.

"Oh, uhh that'd be great Ino! I leave a spare house key in my porchlight." He seemed so happy.

"When do you leave?"

With a groan, Naruto flopped onto the pillow. "As soon as Granny lets me out of the hospital."

That soon huh? Ino forced a smile trying to fight back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes. Today sucked. "Well, I hope you get nice and strong on the trip."

"I will!" He gave her a thumbs up smiling brightly. "Don't worry Ino I already told Sakura that I'd bring Sasuke back! So I'll promise you too!"

She couldn't care less. "Just make sure you come back okay Naruto?"

He nodded.

Ino felt her knees begin to shake, her body felt hot and cold all at once and she wanted to puke. She forced herself to stand tall and nodded at Naruto. "Well, I guess I'll see you later."

"Yea, see ya."

She walked out of the hospital room, trying not to cry. She didn't cry when she left the building. She didn't cry as she walked down the street. Only when she shoved her face into her pillow did she finally cry.

XXXX

This was it. This was the last look at Konoha he was going to have for a long time. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you Sakura."

"Naruto," Sakura said softly, a hand clutched to her heart. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Naruto smiled He really couldn't be mad at Sakura, she was just being honest about everything. Part of him knew that they wouldn't be together forever, even when they first started dating. Sakura was and always will be in love with Sasuke.

Just like Ino.

He had hoped to see her here to see him off. Just one last goodbye. She was his best friend after all. At least he thought so.

"Well See you later Sakura! Sorry about leaving you here all alone. I'll make sure to come back a lot stronger."

"You better Naruto! I'm going to be training to and if you don't work your butt off I just might be stronger than you!"

"I look forward to it!"

Naruto turned and began to walk away from Konoha. He was going to miss this place, the ramen, the people, the air, especially his friends, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, Shino, Sakura, Kakashi-sensei and Iruka to! Granny also counted. But mostly he was going to miss the Flower Shop and Ino.

It felt weird thinking about her. It felt like the way he used to think about Sakura. But different. And he wasn't going to make that mistake again. Maybe once he brought Sasuke back and involved with a girl… then Naruto would have a chance.

"Naruto!" Ino's voice sounded from the Konoha gate.

He stopped and turned to see her running towards him. A bustle of blue flowers in her hands while she waved the other one frantically.

"Naruto! Wait!" Ino shouted again once she was past the gate. She came to a stop right in front of him, it looked like she had been crying, and she was out of breath.

"Ino? What's wrong are you okay?"

She held up a finger and took a few deep breaths. She stood and looked at him, her face was serious and there was a spark of happiness in her eyes. She shoved the bustle of blue flowers into his chest. "These are Forget-Me-Nots. They mean not to forget the person that gave them to you. So you better not forget me or I'll be super mad at you when you come back!"

"Uhh, Okay?" What was he going to do with flowers? Was he supposed to carry them around forever? "Thanks, Ino and don't worry I won't forget you."

She hugged him. It was tight and stopped him from hugging her back. "You better not Idiot."

He felt something press against his cheek and Ino backed away, her face red as a tomato. "Come back safe okay?"

Before he could respond she spun around and ran back into Konoha.

"I told you she was your girlfriend brat." The old pervert grumbled. "Looks like there's a note in the flowers too."

The note was a simple piece of paper with three words on it written in Ino's girly handwriting.

I like you

 **AN: TIME SKIP HYPE! I hope to get the next chapter out before I go on vacation playing Xenoblade Chornicles 2 but I have a few other stories I need to update first! Anyways! Enjoy!**


	13. Gardenia

There were many things that Naruto would do without fear, charge into battle, sniff check underwear, drink spoiled milk, call the Hokage an old hag. But apparently facing Ino was something that made him shake in his boots. Or at the very least pace near her store for at least an hour.

Shikamaru had told him that Ino was still very single and that even if she tried to flirt with a guy it would uselessly end with her brushing them off moments later. But that didn't mean that she was waiting for him did it? It had been three years! He didn't even get to tell her that he liked her back before he left! And it was just a note.

What if she didn't even remember him or even liked him anymore? What if she thought he was funny looking? Sure Sakura had said otherwise in his looks department but had said nothing on whether or not Ino liked him.

He had no way of knowing if she even still remembered him.

"Dammit, you blond idiot, I told you not to forget about me so show up so I can stop missing you!"

That was Ino. Was she talking about him? It sounded like him. He was blond, and he was an idiot. That's it he's going in!

Whatever courage he had mustered died when he walked into the shop and saw her sitting there. There was beautiful, and then there was Ino. Her platinum blond hair was longer than it was before, and was tied in a long ponytail while her bangs were pushed to one side covering her right eye.

She was without a doubt the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. There was no one else that could possibly compare to her. She said something, with a smile bright enough to rival the stars.

When she opened her eyes to look at him, it took his breath away. Her blue eyes were something to behold.

XXXX

Ino drummed her fingers on the countertop, eyes locked onto the entrance of the shop. She had heard from a very reliable source - or he was a very dead source - that Naruto was back. Running around doing missions to bring Sasuke back but he was still very very much back. And he should be coming to see her whenever he had a moment to spare.

Or at least he better if he knew what was good for him!

What if he was afraid to face her because she stupidly confessed to him by putting a note in a bunch of flowers three years ago! She was thirteen! She was stupid and all she thought about was love, cute boys, and shopping. Not all that different now actually, but her tastes had matured.

Probably. Despite her best efforts, she had been unable to find a guy that was even remotely dateable in Konoha. It was like they were all… so… well, all like Shikamaru… on a good day. Or like Rock Lee on a bad day. Or like Neji with a stuck so far up their ass she could see it when they talked. Or in Kiba's case (Who was admittedly kind of cute.) had their heart set on another girl.

Ino groaned pushing her head against the countertop. "Dammit, you blond idiot, I told you not to forget about me, so show up so I can stop missing you!"

Knowing that he was gone for three years was annoying but liveable she could carry on her day to day life, vaguely missing him. But now that he was basically back and that she couldn't see him was a thousand million times worse! It was so frustrating.

She was just about to scream for what was so not the fourteenth time that day. When the bell above the door jingled and customer service mode activated. "Hello welcome to Yamana…"

Ba-thump.

Her heart jumped out of her throat and slapped her in the face. It was Naruto. He was tall, bright, and adorkable. Whatever doubt that she had about her feelings about were now invalidated, blood rushed to her cheeks and a warm glow flew over her body that made it heart to sit still.

He stood there in the middle of the store dressed in a plain orange T-shirt and black pants, his mouth slightly as though his brain stopped working at the sight of her. That was a very good sign. If only she wasn't suffering from the same condition. His face was red, and neither one of the had broken eye contact for what seemed like ages.

Okay, Ino. Calm down girl, handle this smooth and try not to completely freak out. She smiled, leaned on the counter and set the charms to eleven. "Well well well, if it isn't Naruto, I was wondering when you'd show up."

That snapped him out of it. He swallowed and shook his head, those wonderful blonde locks of his swaying at the motion. "Oh uhh Hey there Ino, I uhh I guess I'm a little late for uhh my shift."

It was so cute how he tried to act casual by scratching the back of his head like an idiot. Well, he was an idiot, but soon enough he was going to be her idiot. "You know, I'm fairly certain we fire people that miss more than three days in a row without telling us."

"Oh."

"But, I think I can rehire you if you wanted." She folded her hands and rested her chin on it. "You can even wear the same apron as before."

"Really? That's great!" He almost shouted taking a quick step forward. "But uhh that's not why I'm here exactly."

"Oooh, and why are you here?" She purred, here was the part where he would say 'you' and then he would woo her with being a sweetheart and taking her on a wonderful date that would probably just be Ichiraku ramen, a bit of walking, a lot of talking with a side of laughing; if he played his cards right she might even be willing to do some kissing.

"I'm a customer." Naruto blurted outstanding at full attention like a grunt in front of a drill sergeant.

"A customer? Are you here to buy some seeds or something? Or replant your garden?" Her hand fell to the countertop and she drummed her finger along the countertop. No biggie, she'd just ask him to hang out later and ambush him with her overabundance of womanly charm that was bound to leave him so amazed he'd fall in with her.

He swallowed and walked towards the flowers. "No, I'm actually here for the flowers."

"Did someone die?"

"What? No, they're for a girl."

If it was Sakura she was going to kill her. "Oh? Do I know her?"

"Better than anybody."

She'd be buying flowers for Sakura too!... for her grave. She had made it perfectly clear that Naruto was going to be hers when he got back to Konoha. And Sakura could have Sasuke whenever he came back. "Really now? And what kind of flowers are you going to get her?"

"A bunch of Gardenia!" he sounded so freaking happy about that. He grabbed a handful of the flowers and quickly tied them with a yellow ribbon. "I read that they represent a secret love, and then you should only give them to someone who you truly care about."

"I know what Gardenia are," She huffed, as he walked up to the counter. There was a quick exchange of cash for the flowers, that brought a bit of bile to Ino's throat. "I hope she likes your flowers."}

"Hehe, me too." He stood in front of her holding out the flowers so that they were practically rubbing in her face.

"Aren't you going to go give them to her?"

"I am."

Ino blinked. She looked at the flowers, then at Naruto who was smiling so bright that it hurt to look at for extended periods of time, his face was red, and he was looking right at her. Oh, oooooh. Oh! She was an idiot. "The flowers are for me?"

He nodded as fast as he could.

"You're giving me, Ino Yamanaka flowers? Specifically the Gardenia, a flower that represents a secret love and that you should only give to someone you truly care about?"

He nodded again. "Are you going to take them or not?"

Her body felt like it was on fire as she reached out and took the flowers from Naruto. He had given her flowers again. Flowers that meant love and happiness, on purpose this time! "Thank you, Naruto."

"Yea," He scratched the back of his head nervously. "The truth is I've had a crush on you since before I left, but I thought you just liked Sasuke."

"You did?" Ino gasped holding the flowers up to her face. She had smelled them a million times but now, they smelled so different, they looked so different and felt so different. All because Naruto gave them to her.

"Yep, I was actually going to confess to you, but then I ended up leaving the village, and I thought you liked Sasuke at the time." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the note she had snuck into the Forget-me-not. "With this, there was no way I could forget about you, let alone get you out of my head."

"I was going to confess to you! To! And I just felt like I had to tell you before you left." She buried her face into the flowers and smiled at the note. He had kept it! He had a crush on her too! Ahh, this was s perfect like something from a romance story!

She should do something! Something awesome! Something that he wouldn't see coming. Oh, a kiss. A kiss sounded like a wonderful idea. Would that be too forward? No, she wanted to do this right. He'd have to date her first, and then she'd kiss him. Unless he started kissing her now, she'd so be down for that.

"Okay," Ino smiled pushing the hair out of her eyes. "So we like each other, what are you going to do now Na-ru-to?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Honestly, I'm surprised I got this far. But uhh, do you think we can go on a date later tonight?"

"I'd love to," Ino looked at her flowers and huffed. "But honestly, you buy me flowers from my own store? I hope you're not planning on making me cook you dinner."

"What no! We're literally the only flower shop in Konoha where else was I supposed to buy them!"

 **AN: So yea! I got excited and ended up writing this! next update for for What is Due! Hope you all like this!**


	14. Gillyflower

There was something magical about her. The way she stood biting her lip in anticipation, anticipation for him no less, that made Ino seem all the more beautiful, her long platinum blond hair contrasted the soft red of her sundress. She was by definition, every teenage boy's dream, tall, blond, beautiful, funny, charming, smart.

How on earth was he this lucky? He shouldn't be this lucky! This had to be some kind of a mistake right? Why were his legs moving forward on his own? Not for the first time, Naruto found his body acting without any input from his mind as his legs began to move towards Ino.

Her eyes lit up the moment she saw him and a smile appeared on her face, not just any smile a real honest to god smile that made his heart want to leap out of his chest. It wasn't the kind of smile that shouted to the world that she was happy, rather it showed the world that she was happy by allowing the smallest glimpse into her soul.

"Hey, you," She laughed running up to him, her hips swaying with each step and continued to once she stopped. It was nice to know that she was as excited or nervous or both! About this date as he was. "What took you so long?"

"I'm sorry," Naruto scratched the back of his head, feeling incredibly underdressed for this. He felt like he needed to be wearing something fancy just to be on Ino's level of… everything! "I lost track of time staring at you."

Dammit! That was not the right thing to say! Now she was going to think he was some pervert… well, she probably already thought that but now she was going to-

"Aww," She grabbed his hand, entwining their fingers. "You're so sweet Naruto, I guess I can forgive you this one time."

She pecked him on the cheek. It was like the first raindrop to fall from the sky, he felt it, he could still feel it there sitting on his cheek but he had no proof that it happened, that it wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him.

Should he ask her to do it again? Should he do it to her? Why was this so hard?

"Now come on, I know just the place!" Ino backed up smiling and biting her lip for what had to be the ultimate combo of sexy and cute. She tugged on his arm just enough to get him moving.

"Wait? Isn't it my job to plan the date?" And pay for it, but that wasn't the point.

Ino snorted and fell alongside beside him. "Please, I've been looking forward to this for like three years now! Besides, you were probably just going to take me to Ichiraku's weren't you?"

"I was going to ask if you wanted to see a movie afterward," Naruto mumbled. Ino's hand was so soft, and warm, but not the kind of warm that made his palm sweat, it was the kind of warm that was just fun to touch. And she smelled good too, like… vanilla?

There was that smile of hers again. "Oooh, that's a good idea, dinner, and a movie, classic first date stuff."

"So, where are we going anyways?"

"It's a secret." She stuck her tongue out of him, highlighting the way her hair hid one of her blue eyes. "Trust me it's going to be sweet."

"You're taking me to a pastry shop aren't you?" Naruto laughed, pulling Ino's arm so that their shoulders were touching now. Being close to her was intoxicating.

Her face turned a shade of red and she huffed. "Maybe, but it's a new place that opened up a few months ago, and I wanted my first time to be with you."

They froze. Both of them. The redness of Ino's face quickly spread around her entire body as the realization of what she said made itself known. Naruto himself was fairing not much better. His time with Jiraiya had done a fantastic job of scrubbing away the innocents of his youth, there was no way that he wasn't going to pick up on what Ino had just said.

"Look!" Ino yanked his arm downward, she looked like a blonde tomato with steam coming out of her ears. "That's not what I meant! I don't want you to be my first time!" She blushed again. "Wait No! I mean I do! But wait! No! Look! Just forget that I said anything! If you promise you won't bring this up again I won't go into your mind and make you forget okay!?"

She was breathing heavily now, tears were welling in her eyes, and she looked ready to die of embarrassment at any moment.

"I'm just glad it wasn't me that said something stupid this time," He laughed, earning a well-deserved smack to the chest from Ino.

"You jerk!" She puffed, her face scrunched up like she just ate a sour lemon, but she was smiling. "You need to say something stupider to make up for it!"

"What why?"

"Because if we're going to do the dumb-blond power couple then I need to be the smart one!"

"What? No fair, you get to be the smart one, the pretty one, the sexy one, and the funny one? What does that leave me with?"

"The sweet loveable dumb one now please say something stupid I think I'm going to literally die of embarrassment." Ino placed a hand to her head with a dramatic flair.

"It's not that easy!" Naruto protest. "I can't just think of something dumb to say it just kind of pops out!"

Ino glared at him, lip trembling with a slight pout. "Please, I don't want to have to go inside your head on the first date."

"Uhh, I don't think there'd be room for you in my mind, I mean, you don't really cross my mind, you kind of already live there." Naruto bit his lip. That sounded stupid so it had to work right?

Ino turned redder than any rose he had ever seen. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were wide. She hit him in the arm. Hard. "You jerk! That wasn't stupid! That was beautiful! Like really Naruto? That's the best stupid thing you can come up with? Honestly, if we weren't about to eat chocolate I'd be seriously upset."

"So are you mad or happy?"

"I don't know, both probably."

Girls were amazing creatures, but really weird.

XXXX

Naruto had the natural ability to charm her pants off. Not literally of course. But he was just so… so…. Smooth, if she didn't know any better she could have sworn that somebody was feeding him lines. But honestly, she didn't know anybody that was suave enough to come up with Naruto's lines.

Or anybody that could say them without bursting out in laughter and blowing their cover.

Fortunately, she was currently stuffing her mouth with chocolate before she could say something else stupid. Also why the hell did she have to kiss him on the cheek earlier? She should have just kissed him! Right? Was that too fast? Who the hell does cheek kisses anymore? Grandma's that's who!

She glanced towards her ever so charming date and locked eyes with him. This was the fifth time since they had sat down at the table! It was so… heart quickening, he didn't even have pretty eyes! They were just blue! Sure that was rare and she supposed they were alright looking, but there was nothing special about them. Aside from the fact they had the special ability to make her face warm and her heart race.

"Why do you keep staring at me like that?" Ino mumbled taking another bite of her chocolate.

"Huh?" Naruto asked in the confused he always did right before he said something that was literally going to make her heart split in two and get in a cage fight with itself to so that it could beat faster. She didn't need to worry about a diet around Naruto, just being around him was cardio enough. "Why wouldn't I stare at you. Don't you know how Into you I am?"

R.I.P. Ino Yamanaka death by flirting.

"You're sweeter than this chocolate," She huffed taking one last final bite of her dessert.

He stood offering her his hand once more. She took it again. His hand was so warm and rough, big too but somehow it felt like her hand was the perfect fit for it. He helped her stand, making her bounce to her feet, he was so tall now. But somehow he was still the same adorkable Naruto he always was. There was just more of him. "So where to now?"

"Hmm," Ino smiled interlocking her arm with his, she was so tempted to rest her head on his shoulder. But would that be too far? She already kissed him on the cheek? Was this too fast? It didn't feel too fast. She was going to do it! His shoulder was firm, but so inviting. It felt like the easiest thing to fall asleep to. "Well, we can walk around for a bit, or head to the movies, you lead I'll follow."

"Hmm,"

"Actually, wait," Ino smiled, walking like this would be awkward, but holding onto Naruto like this during a movie would be a wonderful idea. "Let's hit the movie first, ramen afterward okay?"

"Yea sounds good." She really liked the way he smiled at her.

With each passing moment, it felt like Naruto was growing more attractive, as he began to relax around her. It felt good seeing him so happy all because of her. He was so tall now, a lot taller than she ever would have thought a shrimp like him would have become, maybe he wasn't done growing either?

What did he look like shirtless?

"So, did you think about me a lot while on your training trip?" Ino pressed a hand to Naruto's chest, trying to feel it in a not so subtle yet probably still subtle way.

"Do you remember when you flashed me your bikini that time we went shopping?" His face turned slightly red.

How could she forget that day? It was both the happiest she had been in a while followed immediately by her heartbreaking for the first time. "Yea, that was a fun day, what about it?"

"I think that image has been burned into my mind, whenever I close my eyes I see it."

"Perv!" She slapped him in the chest again lightly, did that mean that he thought about her when he… oh, oh god, he did didn't he totally thought about her when he was alone at night, in her yellow polka dot bikini that was… she was Thirteen then! A most devious idea crossed her mind. "You know, I still own that bikini, maybe it's time to update your memory?"

Naruto came to a sudden stop, causing her to jerk slightly. His face was red and he was looking at her with great big red eyes. He swallowed hard and looked at her with a fire in his eyes. She took it back, he had wonderful eyes. "Are you trying to seduce me?"

"Depends?" She bit her lip and raised her eyebrows. "Is it working."

"What do you think?"

XXXX

Ino stood in the doorway of her home. The sky was dark save for the lone moon shining above them, bathing the streets in its pale light. It was the cool mid-autumn air that was biting her heels making her regret not taking a sweater one their date. "Well, I had a lot of fun tonight Naruto."

"Yea," He said softly, flopping his arms slightly. "Do you think we can do it again sometime?"

She laughed pushing her bang out of her eye. "We can do this whenever you want Naruto."

He grabbed her hand and stared at it for a moment, and looked her in the eyes begging for permission. She nodded, and he leaned down and kissed her hand. It was so cheesy if she had been lactose intolerant it might have killed her. Her hand burned where he had kissed it, part of her never wanted to wash it ever again. "Does that mean you'll be my girlfriend?"

Her heart leaped into her throat and nearly jumped out so that it could scream 'yes' to the world and kiss Naruto. But her mind reeled her in. "We've only gone on one date Naruto."

"So?"

"So," Ino fumbled trying to find the words. "I like you okay, I like you a lot, but I don't want us to have a great couple of months and then break up. I want us to build something that will last. Something that won't ever end. I know it's silly but -"

"It's not silly," Naruto almost shouted, taking a step between them, still holding onto her hand. Another step and the only thing that separated their bodies was the combined width of their hands. "I want something that will last with you too, but it's just whenever I look at you it makes my heart beat faster."

"I'm not going to kiss you right now." Ino bit her lip and stared up at Naruto. He was so close, so tall, so handsome under the moonlight. If she didn't hold onto her restraint there would be nothing to stop her teenage hormones from making a series of wonderful mistakes. "But I wouldn't mind if you just grabbed my face and kissed me."

He did just that.

His lips were chapped, and he sucked at kissing. They both did. But it was undeniably wonderful. It lingered as they separated, eyes fluttering, hearts beating.

"I planned on waiting until the second date before we kissed." Ino touched her lips as they formed into a smile. "But something about you just makes me want to do stupid stuff all the time."

"So, sure." Ino smiled kissing him again. It was so easy to just let go. "I'll be your girlfriend."

He reached out to one of the pots in front of the store. "This is a gillyflower right?"

She nodded. And he placed it behind her ear keeping the hair out of her face. "I know it's supposed to represent a long life and beauty. But lets hope it'll mean that I can have a long happy relationship with my beautiful girlfriend."

 **AN: So... remember how I ssaid Iw as going to work on What is Due? I lied. I mostly just got super excited about this chapter and ended up writing this.**

 **Anyways, I'm starting a minivacation from writing tomorrow to play Xenoblade Chronicles 2. So see ya'll soon!**


	15. Mistletoe

"You look like a dork," Ino's honey-sweet voice drifted in from behind him, she rounded the corner carrying a box of Christmas decorations. She was dressed in a pale white sweater dress that left a great deal of her neck and a bit of her generous cleavage exposed to the world. Fortunately, there was no body but them and Tsubaki.

"Hey! you're the one that put me in this!" Naruto pulled at the collar of his ugly red Christmas sweater. It had been thrust upon him when Ino invited him over to help decorate the shop for Christmas. But he was a good boyfriend and would wear any manner of ugly clothing to make his smoking hot girlfriend happy. "Am I even doing this right?"

The large pine tree was placed nearly in the center of the shop as Christmas was in full swing, wreaths and Christmas flowers took the place of the standard wares the shop carried. But Naruto was currently wrapping a string of popcorn around the tree.

The box jingled when Ino sat it down, she glided gracefully around the tree and guided the string of popcorn into its place. "Relax, you're doing a great job for your first time decorating a tree."

"Hehe, thanks, Ino."

With the popcorn finished it was time to put on the ornaments, they were all large highly decorated bulbs of every color in the rainbow. Tactful, but tasteful at the same time. Once the orbs were placed, it was time for the more unique decorations.

"Daddy got this for me when I was twelve," Ino said softly, drawing his attention to the hand-sized glass snowflake Ino was dangling in the air. "He got it on a mission up north when he couldn't bring me home any flower seeds."

Naruto placed a hand around Ino's shoulder and hugged her. The death of Inoichi and Shikaku was one they they all felt. But as Shikamaru was stepping up into his father's shoes, Ino was setting out on her own path. "I promised him I would always take care of you."

She laughed and gave him a tender kiss that left his lips buzzing and heart racing. She was in complete control of him, without mind control. As Kurama frequently put it: He was whipped.

"I'm going to hold you to that Naruto," Ino smiled and placed the ornament on the tree where it fell into place with all the others. "But if you're not careful I might be thinking that you're proposing to me."

Crap! Did she know? Did Sakura blab? Wait no it had to be Shikamaru! Or was it Choji? No…. it was just a joke. "Haha, yea, that's totally not what I meant."

She looked at him, blue eyes sparkling with a single eyebrow arched hidden behind the fringe of her hair.

"Well, it's not like I don't want to marry you."

The look persisted.

"I mean not right now totally not right this second maybe soon," Naruto continued to stammer, he was blowing it, he was basically strapping everything to a rock and telling Sakura that the rock said she had a big forehead. "I'm going to shut up now."

She was smiling now one, hand on her cheek, eyelashes batting. "Oh, but I was having so much fun watching you dig yourself into a hole."

"At least I'm not putting myself into the dog house right?" Naruto pretended to shiver, rubbing his arms and chattering his teeth. "The couch is so cold in the winter."

"Oh, please like I've ever made you sleep on the couch," Ino purred smacking him on the chest. "Besides, who else is going to keep me warm at night?"

"Good, point." He smiled stealing a kiss from her. Crisis averted, Ino had no idea what he was planning. "Now, let's finish the tree before your mom gets home with the mistletoe."

XXXX

Ino smiled as she put the finishing touches on the Christmas tree. After the war, it finally felt like her life was back on track. And Naruto had been there with her every step of the way. Just thinking about him brought a smile to her face. And even after nearly two years of dating, the magic hadn't faded.

She was electricity, and Naruto was the path of least resistance.

Her fellow blond was currently going out of his way to make sure that no door frame was free of mistletoe. "So are you putting all those up just so you can kiss me more?"

He smiled like a kid with their hand in the cookie jar. "Maaaaybe."

"You know, you don't need an excuse to kiss me." Once their relationship was defined they agreed that kisses may be requested, stolen, taken, or given without penalty.

"Oh, I know, but more kisses never hurt anybody." He jumped down, and landed right in front of her where he gave her a fantastic kiss. She closed her eyes and leaned into him, placing her hand on his chest as the only thing that prevented her from taking more than he was willing to give her. "Besides, Isn't it fun when I have to kiss you as much as I need to?"

She looked up and saw him dangling a bit of mistletoe above their heads. "You're such a dork, what ever am I going to do with you?"

"You better find out, because at this point you're stuck with me forever." He leaned on her more and more as his arms were draped around her shoulders like an ugly throw. "Forever, and ever, and ever."

Okay, something fishy was going on. And she wanted to know exactly what. "Alright Naruto, what gives, you're planning something aren't you?"

His entire body froze. Yep, he was guilty. Very very guilty. While Sakura had her way of scaring the answers out of Naruto. Ino had her own way, more subtle and far far far more under handed.

"Oh, Naruto," She spun in his arms draping her arms around his shoulders. She put on her best girlfriend face, and began to purr. "Why won't you tell me what's going on? Aren't I your girlfriend? I bet I could make it better."

Seduction plus guilt was her weapon, and it was super effective against Naruto.

"Well, I mean. That is uh." He was stammering, almost like he was stalling for time.

There was a knock on the door before the doors flew open and in strode a Sakura with pink cheeks. The girl marched up to them and grunted before she let out a sigh and steeled herself. She grabbed hold of Ino's arm and said. "Ino, Ino, come quickly we're running out of time!"

"Wait for what?" Ino tried to fight it but Naruto was all but pushing her towards Sakura as her friend pulled her out of the room.

"Don't worry here Ino, go have fun with Sakura." Naruto waved her goodbye as she was pulled out of the storefront. He planned this!

"Traitor!" Ino shouted as Sakura pulled her out into the crisp winter air. "What do you want Forehead girl."

Wait? What on earth was going on? Where was that music coming from? It was kind of campy, like the kind that would be on a cheesy Christmas movie…. What was in that eggnog? Did Naruto spike her drink? Did she spike her drink?

"Is it wrong for me to want to see a friend? It's a victimless crime!" Sakura laughed, her arm still hook around Ino's in a vice-like grip; there was no escape. Everything sounded so caned and forced like Sakura knew that she was doing something stupid and was going to die of embarrassment

"Dickless, has a big surprise for you! So he asked us to sing this little chime." Sai appeared, holding a framed picture of her and Naruto. It was cute and well drawn, with them in a tender embrace. "Even if you are far too beautiful for him."

Sakura finally lets go of her arm, they had walked - more like ran - to the other end of the street. And the music was following them. What the hell was this?

"Sai," Sakura growled. "That didn't rhyme."

"I thought you said to bring Thyme." Sai held up a small pouch of herbs.

It was enough for Ino to let out a small chuckle.

"Love is in the air for Konoha wintertime." A white scarf began to slither its way around her neck, warming her against the chill air. She turned and saw their Hokage - Kakashi - standing ever so slightly too close to her while he spun the scarf. It looked like he was smiling under his mask. "I better get over-time for this."

"What's going on?" Ino stomped her foot and glared at Sakura. Sai was having too much fun with this. And Kakashi would just tell her exactly nothing, which left Sakura as her only source of information.

She was blindsided by Kiba grabbing her arm and spinning her. "Every day of every hour he thinks about you while inside the Hokage tower."

He was going full ham, clearly, he was having far too much fun with this.

"One could say you make his heart go a million and one kilometers per hour," Hinata spoke softly, enjoying this just as much as Kiba if not more so. She placed a large white flower behind Ino's ear and gave a small bow. "It was nice to watch your love flower."

"We'd be doing you a disfavor, if we tried to keep up this behavior." Shino appeared on Kiba's right, sounding twice as forced as Sakura had. How long had he been standing there? And how on earth did Naruto convince Shino to say that?

"What are we waiting for? It's happy hour!" Kiba hooked his arm around Shino's shoulder and Hinata's waste.

The music was still playing. This wasn't over and she still didn't have any answers. "What the hell has gotten into you people?"

Shikamaru and Choji picked her up by the arms so that her feet were dangling helplessly in the air.

"He's going to ask for your hand," Shikamaru droned sounding as bored and unenergetic as ever.

"Wait for what?" Ino asked kicking her legs. "Put me down!"

"Come on Shikamaru can't you give a damn?" Choji asked looking over at their other teammate. They were ignoring her as they sped through the streets of Konoha and into one of the many parks.

"I'd rather not go ham."

"Where the hell is that music coming from! What hand? Someone tell me what's going on!" Ino shouted. "Where is Naruto! Naruto come save me!"

"Well, this isn't going as planned." Choji came to a stop in the middle of the woods, it was a gazebo of sorts, freshly painted white. Flowers beds were sleeping for the winter and she knew exactly what this place was. It was the first place that the Yamanaka flower shop helped restore after the war. Just her, her mother, and Naruto. "But we're here to stand witness."

"For an underhanded proposal." Shikamaru sighed and held out his hand towards the Gazebo, as Naruto appeared.

He was still wearing the ugly red Christmas sweater she forced on him. His face was red and his smile was nervous. A small black box rested in his hand and the world around her went deaf as she could only hear her heartbeat.

So this was what was going on. This! This horribly cheesy proposal. Wait what was she going to say? Yes duh. But how was she going to say yes? Was she going to play it cool and tell him to slide the ring onto her finger or was she going to scream like a little girl and jump saying yes yes yes a thousand times yes?

The world turned silent as Naruto goes down on one knee. She could hear his breath, hear him every muscle twitch. "Ino, it's time for me to show you how our love has flowered, might I have your hand in marriage?"

She tried to say something. But all that came out was a few gasps. And tears, she was so happy she was crying. All around her, friends and family began to step out from behind the trees.

Words failed her and all she could do was hold her hand out and nod while making happy sounds.

The ring was a perfect fit. And the crowd around them cheered. Naruto went to take his well-earned kiss from her and she felt herself melting into him.

"If you ever do something that embarrassing to me again, I'll end you." She whispered into his ear.

"I love you too," He laughed. "And merry Christmas Ino."

 **AN: I'm sorry.**

 **I blame Christmas movies, Eggnog, Christmas music, and a shitty job!**

 **I'm so sorry.**


	16. Primrose

"So when's the wedding?" Sakura asked, that stupid knowing smile on her face, diamond ring shining as she tapped her fingers along the clipboard marking her as a married woman.

It wasn't the first time Sakura had asked her that question. It wasn't even the first time today Sakura had asked that question. As though Sakura loved to lord over the fact that she was married, despite the fact that Ino had been engaged for longer than Sakura had even been in a relationship.

"When I decided to plan it… again," Ino growled. The first wedding was going to be a grand ordeal with every single nation under the sun being present in some fashion. It was the ultimate wedding. But they had to cancel that one because of why was that one canceled again? Oh right, giant meteor coming towards earth and her husband being stuck on the moon. The next three were canceled due to a plague, an invasion, and a really weird day where everybody but her was a different gender for a day.

She might have dreamed that one up. Still, her husband was a sexy girl.

The three after that had just kind of fallen apart as she was planning them. So much time and energy had gone into the first ones that the rest just felt blah. "Don't get me wrong, It's not like I don't want to marry Naruto, I just kind of don't feel like I need to right this minute."

Besides, they lived together, they both wore a ring, they were practically married. "I don't need a piece of paper telling me that I want to spend the rest of my life with him."

"Well…." Sakura smiled sheepishly, she held the clipboard up and turned it around for Ino to see. Her finger lightly tapping where it said some kind of a test was positive. "You might want to get on that considering you're pregnant."

Ino blinked. She heard Sakura loud and clear. She heard her very very clearly. She was pregnant. But when? They had always, always used protection going so far as to double up on condoms and pills! "How?"

She didn't want to be a whale!

Sakura shrugged and sat the clipboard to the side, revealing her own growing belly. "Well… on a scale of one to ten how would you rate your sex life?"

"Eleven." Okay, she might be exaggerating, they weren't teenagers anymore they only went through one box of condoms a month now down from two when they were teenagers.

"Point being you two fuck more than anybody I know, actually you two have more sex than everybody else I know put together. It was bound to happen eventually." Sakura tapped her fingers on the countertop while her free hand drifted towards her belly. "So uhh… you might want to get on that whole marriage thing."

Ino stood. Her long hair following her like a river. "I need to get a paper saying I want to spend the rest of my life with Naruto on it."

"So what's the plan?" Sakura asked with a smile on her face. "I hear that fall is a lovely time for a wedding."

It wasn't. It really really wasn't.

"No planning, I'm getting married today." Ino quickly put her shoes on and ran out the door. Her heart was pounding in her ears and her palms were sweaty. How on earth was she going to tell Naruto? How was she going to tell everybody else? Wait tell Naruto first! What if people found out that the Hokage was having a baby out of wedlock?

Sure the entire world knew that she had been with Naruto forever, and even a few places though they were married. Namely Suna, Gaara had said he got tired of the invites and said that in Suna they're married.

"Ino? What are doing?" Sakura asked, walking after her (Still not quite at the waddling stage yet).

"I'm going to go marry my husband, there has to be someone around that can say officiate a quickie." This had gone on long enough, she needed to marry Naruto two years ago.

"You know he's in a meeting with the other kages right?" Sakura grunted to keep up with her, those extra two inches of legs Ino had on her made it difficult to keep up especially when she was in full bat out of hell strut mode.

"Good, one of them can do it."

"Shouldn't we at least get you a dress?"

"I'm wearing a white bra and panties." It was Friday, and Naruto was in town, of course, she was going to match.

"That doesn't count!"

"My bikini is also white, think we should do a bikini wedding? You know before I turn into a whale?"

"Ino! You know what fine! You're just lucky you're hot enough to say shit like that and it actually seems like a good idea."

"I'm so glad we've come to an understanding."

XXXX

As great as it was to see his friend again, these kage meetings were in a word. Boring. Often times they'd talk about chunin exams or go over threats, those were fun, but currently, the subject was improving infrastructure between the villages; Gaara was proposing a train to go directly from Suna to Konoha, which was neat, just not the cost-benefit analysis report.

Seriously did he need to be here for this? He'd rather be tending his flowers or eating ramen, or training, or just being someone in the general vicinity as his fiance. They really should get married soon. Should he propose again? Was that weird? Proposing to the person you're already engaged to?

"So as you can see, within two years after its construction, the train will have paid for itself through increase trade as well as passenger fees. I also believe that this could be applied to other nation villages as well - Furthermore…" Gaara's already dull voice made it nearly impossible to not fall asleep.

And had it not been for the door being literally kicked in Naruto would have been out cold, dreaming of a giant pool of ramen and a very naked Ino.

The entire room jumped, weapons were drawn, and their bodyguards were on high alert ready to stab the intrude which happened to be his wife.

Somehow Ino had managed to get hotter over the years. Aging like fine wine, and still getting better looking by the day. Her long platinum blonde hair fell from her head like a waterfall, nearly reaching the back of her thigh in its length. It was always so silky smooth. To say nothing of hauntingly blue eyes that were glaring right at him.

"Ino?" Naruto asked blinking at the woman he was hopefully going to marry someday. "What bring you here?"

All the weapons were put away.

"Yes," Chojuro said pushing up his glasses, it was the boy first meeting as Mizukage. "We're in the middle of a meeting."

Ino marched over to Naruto, her heels clicking on the wooden floor with a stubborn determination. In one motion she picked Naruto up off of his chair, kissed him, and flung him in front of Gaara. "I'm pregnant, we're getting married now."

"Wait, what? You're pregnant?" Naruto tried to ask.

"Yep, it's yours, Gaara, can you officiate us?"

"I pronounced you man and wife years ago," Gaara said, his voice and humor as dry as the desert. "You may now kiss the bride."

"Wait was that it?" Naruto asked still confused by what was happening. "Are we married now?"

"Yes!" Ino grabbed his face and pulled it towards her. "Now shut up and kiss me!"

Naruto did not need to be told twice.

XXXX

To say Naruto was a nervous bundle of nervous nerves would accurate. Ino was in the delivery room, and both her and Sakura had kicked him out of it. Leaving him to do nothing but pacing in front of the door while he listening to his wife scream in pure agony as she squeezed new life out of her.

Fortunately, she didn't have a giant fox sealed in her stomach to worry about.

But that didn't stop her screaming bloody murder. He always knew his wife was loud and vocal, he just didn't know that she could get that loud. Well, he did, but not in public.

She sounded like she was dying.

Then the screams came to a halt. And the entire world grew silent. As the soft cry of a babe echoed throughout the door. The sound of his child. His own family.

Moments later Sakura opened the door, her gloved hands were covered in blood and other bodily fluids. "Welcome to fatherhood Naruto, Ino said you can see your daughter if you promise not to be an idiot about it."

"A daughter?" Naruto gasped. He had a daughter a beautiful baby girl! Wait Sakura had a son…. He was going to have to protect his daughter from all boys. She wasn't allowed to date until she was married. Yep, that was a good rule.

"Yep, come on in."

Naruto walked into the room and gasped. Ino was laying on the bed looking tired, her long hair forming a golden river along her shoulder as she held a small fussing bundle close to her chest. He zoomed over to her and slid on the ground going down on one knee beside the bed. She had never looked so beautiful.

She looked at him and smiled, before shifting the bundle for him to see. A beautiful blond haired baby girl with large blue eyes was already trying to let the world know that she was born. His daughter, his beautiful baby girl.

"Are you ready to be a dad Naruto?" Ino asked her words were as soft and motherly as could be. Her eyes fell towards their daughter, their ball of sunshine.

Naruto nodded and held out a finger towards his daughter. She grabbed it, eyes locking onto him intently. "Yea, I think I am."

"So uh," Sakura interrupted tapping a pen on the clipboard. "Do you have a name?"

"Primrose," Ino smiled. "It means eternal love. And that's exactly what she is."

 **AN: And that's the end folks! In terms of chapters this has been my longest fic. But not in terms of wood count. This was an adventure, I learned a lot, and I hope you guys enjoyed the ride!**

 **Thank you for reading and be sure to check out my other fics!**

 **Crazy Stupid Love, is going to be replacing this fic in my rotation now that its complete. It's a Gaara x Fem Naruto fic with a few neat twists.**

 **What is Due is a Naruto x Karin fic where the two are desperatly trying to find a place to call home.**

 **And I have a few RWBY fics up! Gilded Rose and Born a Grimm, give them a shot.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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